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RAMBLES  IN  GREECE 


The  Acropolis,  Athens 


RAMBLES  AND  STUDIES 


IN 


GREECE 


BY 

J.  P.  MAHAFFY 

KNIGHT  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  THE  SAVIOUR; 

AUTHOR  OF  “SOCIAL  LIFE  IN  GREECE;”  “A  HISTORY  OF  GREEK  LITERATURE 
“GREEK  LIFE  AND  THOUGHT  FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  ALEXANDER;” 
“THE  GREEK  WORLD  UNDER  ROMAN  SWAY,”  ETC. 


ILLUSTRATED 


THE  INTERNATIONAL  PRESS 

THE  JOHN  C.  WINSTON  CO 

PHILADELPHIA 


HUNC  LIBRUM 


JE&mun&o  M^att  lE&gell 

OB  INSIGNEM 

INTER  CASTRA  ITINERA  OTIA  NEGOTIA  L1TTERARUM  AMOREM 

OLIM  DEDICATUM 

NUNC  CARISSIMI  AMICI  MEMORIAE 


CONSECRAT  AUCTOR 


PREFACE. 


Few  men  there  are  who  having  once  visited  Greece 
do  not  contrive  to  visit  it  again.  And  yet  when  the 
returned  traveller  meets  the  ordinary  friend  who  asks 
him  where  he  has  been,  the  next  remark  is  generally, 
u Dear  me  ! have  you  not  been  there  before  ? How  is 
it  you  are  so  fond  of  going  to  Greece  V7  There  are 
even  people  who  imagine  a trip  to  America  far  more 
interesting,  and  who  at  all  events  look  upon  a trip 
to  Spain  as  the  same  kind  of  thing — southern  climate, 
bad  food,  dirty  inns,  and  general  discomfort,  odious 
to  bear,  though  pleasant  to  describe  afterward  in  a 
comfortable  English  home. 

This  is  a very  ignorant  way  of  looking  at  the 
matter,  for  excepting  Southern  Italy,  there  is  no 
country  which  can  compare  with  Greece  in  beauty 
and  interest  to  the  intelligent  traveller.  It  is  not 
a land  for  creature  comforts,  though  the  climate  is 
splendid,  and  though  the  hotels  in  Athens  are  as 
good  as  those  in  most  European  towns.  It  is  not  a 
land  for  society,  though  the  society  at  Athens  is 
excellent,  and  far  easier  of  access  than  that  of  most 
European  capitals.  But  if  a man  is  fond  of  the  large 

vii 


PREFACE. 


viii 

effects  of  natural  scenery,  he  will  find  in  the  South- 
ern Alps  and  fiords  of  Greece  a variety  and  a rich- 
ness of  color  which  no  other  part  of  Europe  affords. 
If  he  is  fond  of  the  details  of  natural  scenery,  flowers, 
shrubs,  and  trees,  he  will  find  the  wild-flowers  and 
flowering-trees  of  Greece  more  varied  than  anything 
he  has  yet  seen.  If  he  desires  to  study  national 
character,  and  peculiar  manners  and  customs,  he 
will  find  in  the  hardy  mountaineers  of  Greece  one  of 
the  most  unreformed  societies,  hardly  yet  affected  by 
the  great  tide  of  sameness  which  is  invading  all 
Europe  in  dress,  fabrics,  and  usages.  And  yet,  in 
spite  of  the  folly  still  talked  in  England  about  brig- 
ands, he  will  find  that  without  troops,  or  police,  or 
patrols,  or  any  of  those  melancholy  safeguards  which 
are  now  so  obtrusive  in  England  and  Ireland,  life 
and  property  are  as  secure  as  they  ever  were  in  our 
most  civilized  homes.  Let  him  not  know  a word  of 
history,  or  of  art,  and  he  will  yet  be  rewarded  by  all 
this  natural  enjoyment  5 perhaps  also,  if  he  be  a 
politician,  he  may  study  the  unsatisfactory  results  of 
a constitution  made  to  order,  and  of  a system  of  free 
education  planted  in  a nation  of  no  political  train- 
ing, but  of  high  intelligence. 

Need  I add  that  as  to  Cicero  the  whole  land  was 
one  vast  shrine  of  hallowed  memories — quocunque 
incedis , Jiistoria  cst — so  to  the  man  of  culture  this 
splendor  of  associations  has  only  increased  with  the 
lapse  of  time  and  the  greater  appreciation  of  human 


PREFACE. 


IX 


perfection.  Even  were  such  a land  dead  to  all 
further  change,  and  a. mere  record  in  its  ruins  of  the 
past,  I know  not  that  any  man  of  reflection  could 
satisfy  himself  with  contemplating  it.  Were  he  to 
revisit  the  Parthenon,  as  it  stands,  every  year  of  his 
life,  it  would  always  be  fresh,  it  would  always  be 
astonishing.  But  Greece  is  a growing  country,  both 
in  its  youth  and  in  its  age.  The  rapid  development 
of  the  nation  is  altering  the  face  of  the  country, 
establishing  new  roads  and  better  communications, 
improving  knowledge  among  the  people,  and  mak- 
ing many  places  accessible  which  were  before  beyond 
the  reach  of  brief  holiday  visits.  The  insecurity 
which  haunted  the  Turkish  frontier  has  been  pushed 
back  to  the  north  ; new  Alps  and  new  monasteries 
are  brought  within  the  range  of  Greece.  And  this 
is  nothing  to  what  has  been  done  in  recovering  the 
past.  Every  year  there  are  new  excavations  made, 
new  treasures  found,  new  problems  in  archaeology 
raised,  old  ones  solved ; and  so  at  every  visit  there 
is  a whole  mass  of  new  matter  for  the  student  who 
feels  he  had  not  yet  grasped  what  was  already  there. 

The  traveller  who  revisits  the  country  now  after 
a lapse  of  four  or  five  years  will  find  at  Athens  the 
Schliemann  museum  set  up  and  in  order,  where  the 
unmatched  treasures  of  Mycenae  are  now  displayed 
before  his  astonished  eyes.  He  will  find  an  Egyp- 
tian museum  of  extraordinary  merit — the  gift  of  a 
patriotic  merchant  of  Alexandria — in  which  there 


X 


PREFACE. 


are  two  figures — that  of  a queen,  in  bronze  and 
silver,  and  that  of  a slave  kneading  bread,  in  wood 
— which  alone  would  make  the  reputation  of  any 
collection  throughout  Europe.  In  the  Parthenon 
museum  he  will  find  the  famous  statuette,  copied 
from  Phidias’s  Athene,  and  the  recent  wonder, 
archaic  statues  on  which  the  brightness  of  the  colors 
is  not  more  astonishing  than  the  moulding  of  the 
figures. 

And  these  are  only  the  most  salient  novelties.  It 
is  indeed  plain  that  were  not  the  new  city  covering 
the  site  of  the  old,  discoveries  at  Athens  might  be 
made  perhaps  every  year,  which  would  reform  and 
enlarge  our  knowledge  of  Greek  life  and  history. 

But  Athens  is  rapidly  becoming  a great  and  rich 
city.  It  already  numbers  110,000,  without  counting 
the  Peirseus ; accordingly,  except  in  digging  founda- 
tions for  new  houses,  it  is  not  possible  to  find  room 
for  any  serious  excavations.  House  rent  is  enor- 
mously high,  and  building  is  so  urgent  that  the  ordi- 
nary mason  receives  eight  to  ten  francs  per  day. 
This  rapid  increase  ought  to  be  followed  by  an  equal 
increase  in  the  wealth  of  the  surrounding  country, 
where  all  the  little  proprietors  ought  to  turn  their 
land  into  market-gardens.  I found  that  either  they 
could  not,  or  (as  I was  told)  they  would  not,  keep 
pace  with  the  increased  wants  of  the  city.  They 
are  content  with  a little,  and  allow  the  city  to  be 
supplied — badly  and  at  great  cost — from  Salonica, 


PREFACE. 


xi 


Syra,  Constantinople,  and  the  islands,  while  meat 
comes  in  tons  from  America.  How  different  is  the 
country  round  Paris  and  London  ! 

But  this  is  a digression  into  vulgar  matters,  when 
I had  merely  intended  to  inform  the  reader  what 
intellectual  novelties  he  would  find  in  revisiting 
Athens.  For  nothing  is  more  slavish  in  modern 
travel  than  the  inability  the  student  feels,  for  want 
of  time  in  long  journeys,  or  want  of  control  over  his 
conveyance,  to  stop  and  examine  something  which 
strikes  him  beside  his  path.  And  that  is  the  main 
reason  why  Oriental — and  as  yet  Greek — travelling 
is  the  best  and  most  instructive  of  all. 

You  can  stop  your  pony  or  mule,  you  can  turn 
aside  from  the  track  which  is  called  your  road,  you 
are  not  compelled  to  catch  a train  or  a steamer  at  a 
fixed  moment.  When  roads  and  rails  have  been 
brought  into  Greece,  hundreds  of  people  will  go  to 
see  its  beauty  and  its  monuments,  and  will  congratu- 
late themselves  that  the  country  is  at  last  accessible. 
But  the  real  charm  will  be  gone.  There  will  be  no 
more  riding  at  dawn  through  orchards  of  oranges 
and  lemons,  with  the  rich  fruit  lying  on  the  ground, 
and  the  nightingales,  that  will  not  end  their  exuber- 
ant melody,  still  outsinging  from  the  deep-green 
gloom  the  sounds  of  opening  day.  There  will  be  no 
more  watching  the  glowing  east  cross  the  silver-gray 
glitter  of  dewy  meadows  ; no  more  wandering  along 
grassy  slopes,  where  the  scarlet  anemones,  all 


Xll 


PREFACE. 


drenched  with  the  dews  of  night,  are  striving  to 
raise  their  drooping  heads  and  open  their  splendid 
eyes  to  meet  the  rising  sun.  There  will  be  no  more 
watching  the  serpent  and  the  tortoise,  the  eagle  and 
the  vulture,  and  all  the  living  things  whose  ways  and 
habits  animate  the  sunny  solitudes  of  the  south. 
The  Greek  people  now  talk  of  going  to  Europe,  and 
coming  from  Europe,  justly  too,  for  Greece  is  still, 
as  it  always  was,  part  of  the  East.  But  the  day  is 
coming  when  enlightened  politicians,  like  Mr.  Tri- 
coupi,  will  insist  on  introducing  through  all  the  re- 
motest glens  the  civilization  of  Europe,  with  all  its 
benefits  forsooth,  but  with  all  its  shocking  ugliness, 
its  stupid  hurry,  and  its  slavish  uniformity. 

I will  conclude  with  a warning  to  the  archaeologist, 
and  one  which  applies  to  all  amateurs  who  go  to  visit 
excavations,  and  cannot  see  what  has  been  reported 
by  the  actual  excavators.  As  no  one  is  able  to  see 
what  the  evidences  of  digging  are,  except  the  trained 
man,  who  knows  not  only  archaeology,  but  architect- 
ure, and  who  has  studied  the  accumulation  of  soil 
in  various  places  and  forms,  so  the  observer  who 
comes  to  the  spot  after  some  years,  and  expects  to 
find  all  the  evidences  unchanged,  commits  a blunder 
of  the  gravest  kind.  As  Dr.  Dorpfeld,  now  one  of 
the  highest  living  authorities  on  such  matters,  ob- 
served to  me,  if  you  went  to  Hissarlik  expecting  to 
find  there  clearly  marked  the  various  strata  of  suc- 
cessive occupations,  you  would  show  that  you  were 


PREFACE. 


xiii 

ignorant  of  the  first  elements  of  practical  knowledge. 
For  in  any  climate,  but  especially  in  these  southern 
lands,  Nature  covers  up  promptly  what  has  been 
exposed  by  man ; all  sorts  of  plants  spring  up  along 
and  across  the  lines  which  in  the  cutting  when 
freshly  made  were  clear  and  precise.  In  a few 
years  the  whole  place  turns  back  again  into  a brake, 
or  a grassy  slope,  and  the  report  of  the  actual  dig- 
gers remains  the  only  evidence  till  the  soil  is  cut 
open  again  in  the  same  way.  I saw  myself,  at 
Olympia,  important  lines  disappearing  in  this  way. 
Dr.  Purgold  showed  me  where  the  line  marking  the 
embankment  of  the  stadium — it  was  never  sur- 
rounded with  any  stone  seats — was  rapidly  becom- 
ing effaced,  and  where  the  plan  of  the  foundations 
was  being  covered  with  shrubs  and  grass.  The 
day  for  visiting  and  verifying  the  Trojan  excava- 
tions is  almost  gone  by.  That  of  all  the  excavations 
will  pass  away,  if  they  are  not  carefully  kept  clear 
by  some  permanent  superintendence  ; and  to  expect 
this  of  the  Greek  nation,  who  know  they  have  end- 
less more  treasures  to  find  in  new  places,  is  more 
than  could  reasonably  be  expected.  The  proper 
safeguard  is  to  do  what  Dr.  Schliemann  does,  to 
have  with  him  not  only  the  Greek  ephoros  or  super- 
intendent— generally  a very  competent  scholar,  and 
sometimes  not  a very  friendly  witness  of  foreign 
triumphs — but  also  a first-rate  architect,  whose  joint 
observation  will  correct  any  hastiness  or  misprision, 


XIV 


PREFACE. 


and  so  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  more  witnesses  every 
word  will  be  confirmed. 

In  passing  on  I cannot  but  remark  how  strange 
it  is  that  among  the  many  rich  men  in  the  world 
who  profess  an  interest  in  archaeology,  not  one  can 
be  found  to  take  up  the  work  as  Dr.  Schliemann  did, 
to  enrich  science  with  splendid  fields  of  new  evidence, 
and  illustrate  art,  not  only  with  the  naive  efforts  of 
its  infancy,  but  with  forgotten  models  of  perfect  and 
peerless  form. 

This  New  Edition  is  framed  with  a view  of  still 
satisfying  the  demand  for  the  book  as  a traveller’s 
handbook,  somewhat  less  didactic  than  the  official 
guide-books,  somewhat  also,  I hope,  more  pictu- 
resque. F or  that  purpose  I have  added  a new  chap- 
ter on  mediseval  Greece,  as  well  as  many  paragraphs 
with  new  information,  especially  the  ride  over 
Mount  Erymanthus,  pp.  343,  sqq.  I have  corrected 
many  statements  which  are  now  antiquated  by  re- 
cent discoveries,  and  I have  obliterated  the  traces  of 
controversy  borne  by  the  Second  Edition.  For  the 
criticisms  on  the  book  are  dead,  while  the  book  sur- 
vives. To  me  it  is  very  pleasant  to  know  that 
many  visitors  to  Greece  have  found  it  an  agreeable 
companion. 

Trinity  College,  Dublin, 

February , 1892. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I. — Introduction — First  Impressions  of  the  Coast  1 

II.— General  Impressions  of  Athens  and  Attica  . 30 

III.  — Athens — The  Museums — The  Tombs 55 

IV.  — The  Acropolis  of  Athens  . . 89 

V. — Athens — The  Theatre  of  Dionysus — The  Are- 
opagus   122 

VI. — Excursions  in  Attica — Colonus — The  Harbors 

— Laurium — Sunium 152 

VII. — Excursions  in  Attica — Pentelicus — Marathon 

— Daphne — Eleusis 184 

VIII. — From  Athens  to  Thebes — The  Passes  of  Parnes 

AND  OF  ClTHiERON,  ELEUTHERjE,  PlAT^EA  . . 215 

IX. — The  Plain  of  Orchomenus,  Liyadia,  Ch^eronea  248 

X. — Arachova — Delphi — The  Bay  of  Kirrha  . . 274 

XI. — Elis — Olympia  and  its  Games — The  Valley 
OF  THE  AlpHEUS — MOUNT  ErYMANTHUS  — 

Patras 299 

XII. — Arcadia  — Andritzena  — Bassas — Megalopolis 

— Tripolitza 351 

XV 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

XIII.— Corinth— Tiryns— Argos— Nauplia— Hydra— 

ASgina — Epidaurus 388 

XIV—  Kynuri  a— Sparta— Messene 435 

XV.— Mycen^  and  Tiryns 456 

XVI.— Medieval  Greece 492 


INDEX 531 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The  publishers’  thanks  are  due  to  Mr.  T.  H.  McAllister  for  the  use  of 
negatives  reproduced  in  photogravure  by  A.  W.  Elson  & Co. 

PAGE 

The  Acropolis,  Athens Frontispiece 

Along  the  Coast  from  the  Throne  of  Xerxes  ...  30 

The  Erechtheum  from  the  West,  Athens 36 

A Tomb  from  the  Via  Sacra,  Athens 78 

Part  of  the  West  Frieze  of  the  Parthenon, 

Athens 110 

Theatre  of  Dionysus,  Athens 122 

Mars’  Hill,  Athens 140 

The  Peir^us 160 

Laurium 168 

Mount  Lycabettus,  Athens 188 

Looking  toward  the  Sea  from  the  Soros,  Marathon  198 

Salamis,  from  across  the  Bay 206 

Temple  of  Mysteries,  Eleusis 212 

A Greek  Shepherd,  Olympia 274 

xvii 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


xviii 

PAGE 

The  Temple  of  Apollo,  Delphi 284 

The  Banks  of  the  Kladeus 302 

Statue  of  Nike,  by  P^onius 306 

Kronion  Hill,  Olympia 318 

Entrance  to  the  Stadium,  Olympia 330 

The  Valley  of  the  Alpheus 342 

A Greek  Peasant  in  National  Costume 380 

Temple  of  Cortnth 392 

Scene  near  Corinth,  the  Acro-Corinthus  in  the  dis- 
tance   395 

Gallery  at  Tiryns 406 

The  Palamedi,  Nauplia 424 

Sculptured  Lion,  Nauplia 428 

Lang  a da  Pass 446 

Arcadian  Gateway,  Messene 452 

The  Argiye  Plain 458 

Lion  Gate,  Mycenje 472 


GREECE. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION — FIRST  IMPRESSIONS  OF  THE  COAST. 

A voyage  to  Greece  does  not  at  first  sight  seem 
a great  undertaking.  We  all  go  to  and  fro  to  Italy 
as  we  used  to  go  to  France.  A trip  to  Rome,  or 
even  to  Naples,  is  now  an  Easter  holiday  affair. 
And  is  not  Greece  very  close  to  Italy  on  the  map  ? 
What  signifies  the  narrow  sea  that  divides  them  f 
This  is  what  a man  might  say  who  only  considered 
geography,  and  did  not  regard  the  teaching  of 
history.  For  the  student  of  history  cannot  look 
upon  these  two  peninsulas  without  being  struck 
with  the  fact  that  they  are,  historically  speaking, 
turned  back  to  back ; that  while  the  face  of  Italy 
is  turned  westward,  and  looks  towards  France  and 
Spain,  and  across  to  us,  the  face  of  Greece  looks 
eastward,  towards  Asia  Minor  and  towards  Egypt. 
Every  great  city  in  Italy,  except  Venice,  approaches 
or  borders  the  Western  Sea — Genoa,  Pisa,  Florence, 
Rome,  Naples.  All  the  older  history  of  Rome,  its 
i 1 


2 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


development,  its  glories,  lie  on  the  west  of  the 
Apennines.  When  you  cross  them  you  come  to 
what  is  called  the  back  of  Italy ; and  you  feel  that 
in  that  flat  country,  and  that  straight  coast-line,  you 
are  separated  from  its  true  beauty  and  charm.1 
Contrariwise,  in  Greece,  the  whole  weight  and  dig- 
nity of  its  history  gravitate  towards  the  eastern 
coast.  All  its  great  cities — Athens,  Thebes,  Corinth, 
Argos,  Sparta — are  on  that  side.  Their  nearest 
neighbors  were  the  coast  cities  of  Asia  Minor  and 
of  the  Cyclades,  but  the  western  coasts  were  to 
them  harborless  and  strange.  If  you  pass  Cape 
Malea,  they  said,  then  forget  your  home. 

So  it  happens  that  the  coasts  of  Italy  and  Greece, 
which  look  so  near,  are  outlying  and  out-of-the  way 
parts  of  the  countries  to  which  they  belong ; and  if 
you  want  to  go  straight  from  real  Italy  to  real 
Greece,  the  longest  way  is  that  from  Brindisi  to 
Corfu,  for  you  must  still  journey  across  Italy  to 
Brindisi,  and  from  Corfu  to  Athens.  The  shortest 
way  is  to  take  ship  at  Naples,  and  to  be  carried 
round  Italy  and  round  Greece,  from  the  centres  of 
culture  on  the  west  of  Italy  to  the  centres  of  culture 
(such  as  they  are)  on  the  east  of  Greece.  But  this 

1 Though  this  statement  is  broadly  true,  it  requires  some  modi- 
fication. I should  be  sorry  to  be  thought  insensible  to  the  beauties, 
not  only  of  Ravenna,  with  its  mosaics  and  its  pines,  but  of  An- 
cona, of  the  splendid  Monte  Gargano,  of  Trani  and  Bari,  and  of 
the  rich  gardens  and  vineyards  of  Apulia. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


3 


is  no  trifling  passage.  When  the  ship  has  left  the 
coasts  of  Calabria,  and  steers  into  the  open  sea,  you 
feel  that  you  have  at  last  left  the  west  of  Europe, 
and  are  setting  sail  for  the  Eastern  Seas.  You  are, 
moreover,  in  an  open  sea — the  furious  Adriatic — in 
which  I have  seen  storms  which  would  be  creditable 
to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and  which  at  times  forbid 
even  steam  navigation. 

I may  anticipate  for  a moment  here,  and  say  that 
even  now  the  face  of  Athens  is  turned,  as  of  old, 
to  the  East.  Her  trade  and  her  communications 
are  through  the  Levant.  Her  chief  intercourse  is 
with  Constantinople,  and  Smyrna,  and  Syra,  and 
Alexandria. 

This  curious  parallel  between  ancient  and  modern 
geographical  attitudes  in  Greece  is,  no  doubt,  greatly 
due  to  the  now  bygone  Turkish  rule.  In  addition 
to  other  contrasts,  Mohammedan  rule  and  Eastern 
jealousy — long  unknown  in  Western  Europe — “first 
jarred  upon  the  traveller  when  he  touched  the  coasts 
of  Greece ; and  this  dependency  was  once  really 
part  of  a great  Asiatic  Empire,  where  all  the  inter- 
ests and  communications  gravitated  eastward,  and 
away  from  the  Christian  and  better  civilized  West. 
The  revolution  which  expelled  the  Turks  was 
unable  to  root  out  the  ideas  which  their  subjects 
had  learned ; and  so,  in  spite  of  Greek  hatred  of  the 
Turk,  his  influence  still  lives  through  Greece  in  a 
thousand  ways. 


4 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


For  many  hours  after  the  coasts  of  Calabria  had 
faded  into  the  night,  and  even  after  the  snowy  dome 
of  Etna  was  lost  to  view,  our  ship  steamed  through 
the  open  sea,  with  no  land  in  sight ; but  we  were 
told  that  early  in  the  morning,  at  the  very  break  of 
dawn,  the  coasts  of  Greece  would  be  visible.  So, 
while  others  slept,  I started  up  at  half-past  three, 
eager  to  get  the  earliest  possible  sight  of  the  land 
which  still  occupies  so  large  a place  in  our  thoughts. 
It  was  a soft  gray  morning  5 the  sky  was  covered 
with  light,  broken  clouds ; the  deck  was  wet  with  a 
passing  shower,  of  which  the  last  drops  were  still 
flying  in  the  air ; and  before  us,  some  ten  miles 
away,  the  coasts  and  promontories  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus were  reaching  southward  into  the  quiet  sea. 
These  long  serrated  ridges  did  not  look  lofty,  in 
spite  of  their  snow-clad  peaks,  nor  did  they  look 
inhospitable,  in  spite  of  their  rough  outline,  but 
were  all  toned  in  harmonious  color — a deep  purple 
blue,  with  here  and  there,  on  the  far  Arcadian  peaks, 
and  on  the  ridge  of  Mount  Taygetus,  patches  of 
pure  snow.  In  contrast  to  the  large  sweeps  of  the 
Italian  coast,  its  open  seas,  its  long  waves  of  moun- 
tain, all  was  here  broken,  and  rugged,  and  varied. 
The  sea  was  studded  with  rocky  islands,  and  the  land 
indented  with  deep,  narrow  bays.  I can  never  for- 
get the  strong  and  peculiar  impression  of  that  first 
sight  of  Greece ; nor  can  I cease  to  wonder  at  the 
strange  likeness  which  rose  in  my  mind,  and  which 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


5 


made  me  think  of  the  bays  and  rocky  coasts  of 
the  west  and  south-west  of  Ireland.  There  was 
the  same  cloudy,  showery  sky,  which  is  so  com- 
mon there ; there  was  the  same  serrated  outline 
of  hills,  the  same  richness  in  promontories,  and 
rocky  islands,  and  land-locked  bays.  Nowhere 
have  I seen  a light  purple  color,  except  in  the  wilds 
of  Kerry  and  Connemara ; and  though  the  general 
height  of  the  Greek  mountains,  as  the  snow  in  May 
testified,  was  far  greater  than  that  of  the  Irish 
hills,  yet  on  that  morning,  and  in  that  light,  they 
looked  low  and  homely,  not  displaying  their  gran- 
deur, or  commanding  awe  and  wonder,  but  rather 
attracting  the  sight  by  their  wonderful  grace, 
and  by  their  variety  and  richness  of  outline  and 
color. 

I stood  there,  I know  not  how  long — without 
guide  or  map — telling  myself  the  name  of  each 
mountain  and  promontory,  and  so  filling  out  the  idle 
names  and  outlines  of  many  books  with  the  fresh 
reality  itself.  There  was  the  west  coast  of  Elis,  as 
far  north  as  the  eye  could  reach — the  least  interest- 
ing part  of  the  view,  as  it  was  of  the  history,  of 
Greece  j then  the  richer  and  more  varied  outline  of 
Messene,  with  its  bay,  thrice  famous  at  great  inter- 
vals, and  yet  for  long  ages  feeding  idly  on  that 
fame  ; Pylos,  Sphacteria,  Navarino — each  a foremost 
name  in  Hellenic  history.  Above  the  bay  could  be 
seen  those  rich  slopes  which  the  Spartans  coveted  of 


6 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


old,  and  which,  as  I saw  them,  were  covered  with 
golden  corn.  The  three  headlands  which  give  to 
the  Peloponnesus  “its  plane-leaf  form/71  were  as 
yet  lying  parallel  before  us,  and  their  outline  con- 
fused ; but  the  great  crowd  of  heights  and  intersect- 
ing chains,  which  told  at  once  the  Alpine  character 
of  the  peninsula,  called  to  mind  the  other  remark  of 
the  geographer,  in  which  he  calls  it  the  Acropolis 
of  Greece.  The  words  of  old  Herodotus,  too,  rise 
in  the  mind  with  new  reality,  when  he  talks  of  the 
poor  and  stony  soil  of  the  country  as  a “rugged 
nurse  of  liberty.77 

For  the  nearer  the  ship  approaches,  the  more  this 
feature  comes  out ; increased,  no  doubt,  greatly  in 
later  days  by  depopulation  and  general  decay,  when 
many  arable  tracts  have  lain  desolate,  but  still  at  all 
times  necessary,  when  a large  proportion  of  the 
country  consists  of  rocky  peaks  and  precipices, 
where  a goat  may  graze,  but  where  the  eagle  builds 
secure  from  the  hand  of  man.  The  coast,  once 
teeming  with  traffic,  is  now  lonely  and  deserted.  A 
single  sail  in  the  large  gulf  of  Koron,  and  a few 
miserable  huts,  discernible  with  a telescope,  only 
added  to  the  feeling  of  solitude.  It  was,  indeed, 
“ Greece,  but  living  Greece  no  more.77  Even  the 
pirates,  who  sheltered  in  these  creeks  and  moun- 

1 Cf.  Strabo,  viii.  c.  2,  Ion  toivvv  rj  HeXo'KovvrjOOQ  eotKvla  QvMg) 
7r?.aravov  to  oxv 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


7 


tains,  have  abandoned  this  region,  in  which  there  is 
nothing  now  to  plunder.1 

But  as  we  crossed  the  mouth  of  the  gulf,  the  eye 
fastened  with  delight  on  distant  white  houses  along 
the  high  ground  of  the  eastern  side — in  other  words, 
along  the  mountain  slopes  which  run  out  into  the 
promontory  of  Tainaron ; and  a telescope  soon 
brought  them  into  distinctness,  and  gave  us  the 
first  opportunity  of  discussing  modern  Greek  life. 
We  stood  off  the  coast  of  Maina — the  home  of  those 
Mainotes  whom  Byron  has  made  so  famous  as  pi- 
rates, as  heroes,  as  lovers,  as  murderers $ and  even 
now,  when  the  stirring  days  of  war  and  of  piracy  have 
passed  away,  the  whole  district  retains  the  aspect  of 
a country  in  a state  of  siege  or  of  perpetual  danger. 
Instead  of  villages  surrounded  by  peaceful  home- 
steads, each  Mainote  house,  though  standing  alone, 
was  walled  in,  and  in  the  centre  was  a high  square 
tower,  in  which,  according  to  trustworthy  travellers, 
the  Mainote  men  used  to  spend  their  day  watching 
their  enemies,  while  only  the  women  and  children 
ventured  out  to  till  the  fields.  For  these  fierce 
mountaineers  were  not  only  perpetually  defying  the 

1 These  words  were  written  in  1873.  On  a later  occasion,  our 
ship  was  obliged  to  run  into  this  bay  for  shelter  from  a storm, 
when  we  found  some  cultivation  along  the  coasts,  and  a village 
(Koron),  with  extensive  fortifications  above  it,  said  to  be  Venetian. 
The  aspect  was  by  no  means  so  desolate  as  appeared  from  a pass- 
ing view  outside  the  headlands.  Coasting  steamers  now  call  here 
(at  Kalamata)  every  second  day. 


8 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Turkish  power,  which  was  never  able  to  subdue  them 
thoroughly,  but  they  were  all  engaged  at  home  with 
internecine  feuds,  of  which  the  origin  was  often  for- 
gotten, but  of  which  the  consequences  remained  in 
the  form  of  vengeance  due  for  the  life  of  a kinsman. 
When  this  was  exacted  on  one  side,  the  obligation 
changed  to  the  other  ; and  so  for  generation  after  gen- 
eration they  spent  their  lives  in  either  seeking  or 
avoiding  vengeance.  This  more  than  Corsican  ven- 
detta1 was,  by  a sort  of  mediaeval  chivalry,  pro- 
hibited to  the  women  and  children,  who  were  thus 
in  perfect  safety,  while  their  husbands  and  fathers 
were  in  daily  and  deadly  danger. 

They  are  considered  the  purest  in  blood  of  all 
the  Greeks,  though  it  does  not  appear  that  their 
dialect  approaches  old  Greek  nearer  than  those  of 
their  neighbors ; but  for  beauty  of  person,  and  inde- 
pendence of  spirit,  they  rank  first  among  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  Peloponnesus,  and  most  certainly  they 
must  have  among  them  a good  deal  of  the  old  Mes- 
senian  blood.  Most  of  the  country  is  barren,  but 
there  are  orange  woods,  which  yield  the  most  deli- 
cious fruit — a fruit  so  large  and  rich  that  it  makes 
all  other  oranges  appear  small  and  tasteless.  The 
. country  is  now  perfectly  safe  for  visitors,  and  the 
people  extremely  hospitable,  though  the  diet  is  not 
very  palatable  to  the  northern  traveller. 

1 Which  the  reader  will  find  best  portrayed  in  Prosper  M6ri- 
m^e’s  Colombo.. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


9 


So  with  talk  and  anecdote  about  the  Mainotes — 
for  every  one  was  now  upon  deck  and  sight-seeing — 
we  neared  the  classic  headland  of  Tainaron,  almost 
the  southern  point  of  Europe,  once  the  site  of  a 
great  temple  of  Poseidon — not  preserved  to  us,  like 
its  sister  monument  on  Sunium — and  once,  too,  the 
entry  to  the  regions  of  the  dead.  And,  as  if  to  re- 
mind us  of  its  most  beautiful  legend,  the  dolphins, 
which  had  befriended  Arion  of  old,  and  carried  him 
here  to  land,  rose  in  the  calm  summer  sea,  and  came 
playing  round  the  ship,  showing  their  quaint  forms 
above  the  water,  and  keeping  with  our  course,  as  it 
were  an  escort  into  the  homely  seas  and  islands  of 
truer  Greece.  Strangely  enough,  in  many  other 
journeys  through  Greek  waters,  once  again  only  did 
we  see  these  dolphins ; and  here  as  elsewhere,  the 
old  legend,  I suppose,  based  itself  upon  the  fact  that 
this,  of  all  their  wide  domain,  was  the  favorite  re- 
sort of  these  creatures,  with  which  the  poets  of  old 
felt  so  strong  a sympathy. 

But,  while  the  dolphins  have  been  occupying  our 
attention,  we  have  cleared  Cape  Matapan,  and  the 
deep  Gulf  of  Asine  and  Gythium — in  fact,  the  Gulf 
of  Sparta  is  open  to  our  view.  We  strained  our 
eyes  to  discover  the  features  of  “ hollow  Lacedae- 
mon,” and  to  take  in  all  the  outline  of  this  famous 
bay,  through  which  so  many  Spartans  had  held  their 
course  in  the  days  of  their  greatness.  The  site  of 
Sparta  is  far  from  the  sea,  probably  twelve  or  fifteen 


10 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


miles ; but  the  place  is  marked  for  every  spectator, 
throughout  all  the  Peloponnesus  and  its  coasts,  by 
the  jagged  top  of  Mount  Taygetus,  even  in  June 
covered  with  snow.  Through  the  forests  upon  its 
slopes  the  young  Spartans  would  hunt  all  day  with 
their  famous  Laconian  hounds,  and  after  a rude 
supper  beguile  the  evening  with  stories  of  their 
dangers  and  their  success.  But,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, of  the  five  villages  which  made  up  the 
famous  city,  few  vestiges  remain.  The  old  port 
of  Gythium  is  still  a port ; but  here,  too,  the 
u wet  ways,”  and  that  sea  once  covered  with  boats, 
which  a Greek  comic  poet  has  called  the  u ants  of 
the  sea,”  have  been  deserted. 

We  were  a motley  company  on  board — Russians, 
Greeks,  Turks,  French,  English;  and  it  was  not 
hard  to  find  pleasant  companions  and  diverting  con- 
versation among  them  all.  I turned  to  a Turkish 
gentleman,  who  spoke  French  indifferently.  u Is  it 
not,”  said  I,  u a great  pity  to  see  this  fair  coast  so 
desolate  ?”  u A great  pity,  indeed,”  said  he  ; u but 
what  can  you  expect  from  these  Greeks  % They  are 
all  pirates  and  robbers ; they  are  all  liars  and 
knaves.  Had  the  Turks  been  allowed  to  hold  pos- 
session of  the  country  they  would  have  improved  it 
and  developed  its  resources ; but  since  the  Greeks 
became  independent  everything  has  gone  to  ruin. 
Roads  are  broken  up,  communications  abandoned ; 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


11 


the  people  emigrate  and  disappear — in  fact,  nothing 
prospers.” 

Presently,  I got  beside  a Greek  gentleman,  from 
whom  I was  anxiously  picking  up  the  first  necessary 
phrases  and  politenesses  of  modern  Greek,  and,  by 
way  of  amusement,  put  to  him  the  same  question. 
I got  the  answer  I expected.  u Ah  !”  said  he,  “ the 
Turks,  the  Turks  ! When  I think  how  these  mis- 
creants have  ruined  our  beautiful  country ! How 
could  a land  thrive  or  prosper  under  such  odious 
tyranny  V7  I ventured  to  suggest  that  the  Turks 
were  now  gone  five  and  forty  years,  and  that  it  was 
high  time  to  see  the  fruits  of  recovered  liberty  in 
the  Greeks.  No,  it  was  still  too  soon.  The  Turks 
had  cut  down  all  the  woods,  and  so  ruined  the 
climate ; they  had  destroyed  the  cities,  broken  up 
the  roads,  encouraged  the  bandits — in  fact,  they  had 
left  the  country  in  such  a state  that  centuries  would 
not  cure  it. 

The  verdict  of  Europe  is  in  favor  of  the  Greek 
gentleman  ; but  it  might  have  been  suggested,  had 
we  been  so  disposed,  that  the  greatest  and  the  most 
hopeless  of  all  these  sorrows — the  utter  depopulation 
of  the  country — is  not  due  to  either  modern  Greeks 
or  Turks,  nor  even  to  the  Slav  hordes  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  It  was  a calamity  which  came  upon  Greece 
almost  suddenly,  immediately  after  the  loss  of  her 
independence,  and  which  historians  and  phys- 


12 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


iologists  have  as  yet  been  only  partially  able  to 
explain.1 

Of  this  very  coast  upon  which  we  were  then  gaz- 
ing, the  geographer  Strabo,  about  the  time  of  Christ, 
says,  “that  of  old,  Lacedaemon  had  numbered  one 
hundred  cities  j in  his  day  there  were  but  ten  re- 
maining.” So,  then,  the  sum  of  the  crimes  of  both 
Greeks  and  Turks  may  be  diminished  by  one.  But 
I,  perceiving  that  each  of  them  would  have  been 
extremely  indignant  at  this  historical  palliation  of 
the  other’s  guilt,  “kept  silence,  even  from  good 
words.” 

These  dialogues  beguiled  us  till  we  found  ourselves, 
almost  suddenly,  facing  the  promontory  of  Malea, 
with  the  island  of  Cythera  (Cerigo)  on  our  right. 
The  island  is  little  celebrated  in  history.  The 
Phoenicians  seem,  in  very  old  times,  to  have  had  a 
settlement  there  for  the  working  of  their  purple 
shell-fishery,  for  which  the  coasts  of  Laconia  were 
celebrated ; and  they  doubtless  founded  there  the 
worship  of  the  Sidonian  goddess,  who  was  trans- 
formed by  the  Greeks  into  Aphrodite  (Venus). 
During  the  Peloponnesian  War  we  hear  of  the 
Athenians  using  it  as  a station  for  their  fleet,  when 
they  were  ravaging  the  adjacent  coasts.  It  was,  in 
fact,  used  by  their  naval  power  as  the  same  sort  of 

1 See  the  remarks  of  Polybius,  who  was  himself  witness  of  this 
great  change,  quoted  in  the  last  chapter  of  my  Greek  Life  and 
Thought , from  Alexander  to  the  Roman  Conquest. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


13 


blister  (imretyetriz)  on  Sparta  that  Dekelea  was  when 
occupied  by  the  Spartans  in  Attica. 

Cape  Malea  is  more  famous.  It  was  in  olden 
days  the  limit  of  the  homely  Greek  waters,  the  bar 
to  all  fair  weather  and  regular  winds — a place  of 
storms  and  wrecks,  and  the  portal  to  an  inhospitable 
open  sea ; and  we  can  well  imagine  the  delight  of 
the  adventurous  trader  who  had  dared  to  cross  the 
Western  Seas,  to  gather  silver  and  lead  in  the  mines 
of  Spain,  when  he  rounded  the  dreaded  Cape,  home- 
ward bound  in  his  heavy-laden  ship,  and  looked 
back  from  the  quiet  iEgean.  The  barren  and  rocky 
Cape  has  its  new  feature  now.  On  the  very  ex- 
tremity there  is  a little  platform,  at  some  elevation 
over  the  water,  and  only  accessible  with  great  diffi- 
culty from  the  land  by  a steep  goat- path.  Here  a 
hermit  built  himself  a tiny  hut,  cultivated  his  little 
plot  of  corn,  and  lived  out  in  the  lone  seas,  with  no 
society  but  stray  passing  ships.1  When  Greece  was 
thickly  peopled  he  might  well  have  been  compelled 
to  seek  loneliness  here ; but  now,  when  in  almost  any 
mountain  chain  he  could  find  solitude  and  desolation 
enough,  it  seems  as  if  that  poetic  instinct  which  so 
often  guides  the  ignorant  and  unconscious  anchorite 
had  sent  him  to  this  spot,  which  combines,  in  a 
strange  way,  solitude  and  publicity,  and  which  ex- 

1 We  hailed  him  with  a steam  whistle  in  1886,  in  vain ; so  it 
may  be  that  he  has  passed  to  some  newer  and  more  social  kind  of 
life. 


14 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


cites  the  curiosity,  but  forbids  the  intrusion,  of  every 
careless  passenger  to  the  East. 

So  we  passed  into  the  Aegean,  the  real  thorough- 
fare of  the  Greeks,  the  mainstay  of  their  communi- 
cation— a sea,  and  yet  not  a sea,  but  the  frame  of 
countless  headlands  and  islands,  which  are  ever  in 
view  to  give  confidence  to  the  sailor  in  the  smallest 
boat.  The  most  striking  feature  in  our  view  was  the 
serrated  outline  of  the  mountains  of  Crete,  far  away 
to  the  S.E.  Though  the  day  was  gray  and  cloudy, 
the  atmosphere  was  perfectly  clear,  and  allowed  us  to 
see  these  very  distant  Alps,  on  which  the  snow  still 
lay  in  great  fields.  The  chain  of  Ida  brought  back 
to  us  the  old  legends  of  Minos  and  his  island  king- 
dom, nor  could  any  safer  seat  of  empire  be  im- 
agined for  a power  coming  from  the  south  than  this 
great  long  bar  of  mountains,  to  which  half  the 
islands  of  the  iEgean  could  pass  a fire  signal  in  times 
of  war  or  piracy.1  The  legends  preserved  to  us  of 
Minos — the  human  sacrifices  to  the  Minotaur — the 
hostility  to  Theseus — the  identification  of  Ariadne 
with  the  legends  of  Bacchus,  so  eastern  and  orgi- 
astic in  character — make  us  feel,  with  a sort  of  in- 
stinctive certainty,  that  the  power  of  Minos  was 

1 A closer  view  of  Crete  disclosed  to  me  the  interesting  fact 
that  the  island  is  turned  to  the  north,  as  regards  its  history.  It  is 
barred  on  the  south  by  great  walls  of  rock,  with  hardly  any  land- 
ing-places, so  that  all  traffic  and  culture  must  have  started  from 
the  slopes  and  bays  on  the  north  side,  where  the  Cyclades  are  its 
neighbors. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


15 


no  Hellenic  empire,  but  one  of  Phoenicians,  from 
which,  as  afterwards  from  Carthage,  they  com- 
manded distant  coasts  and  islands,  for  the  purposes 
of  trade.  They  settled,  as  we  know,  at  Corinth,  at 
Thebes,  and  probably  at  Athens,  in  the  days  of  their 
greatness,  but  they  seem  always  to  have  been 
strangers  and  sojourners  there,  while  in  Crete  they 
kept  the  stronghold  of  their  power.  Thucydides 
thinks  that  Minos’s  main  object  was  to  put  down 
piracy,  and  protect  commerce ; and  this  is  probably 
the  case,  though  we  are  without  evidence  on  the  point. 
The  historian  evidently  regards  this  old  Cretan 
empire  as  the  older  model  of  the  Athenian,  but 
settled  in  a far  more  advantageous  place,  and 
not  liable  to  the  dangers  which  proved  the  ruin 
of  Athens. 

The  nearer  islands  were  small,  and  of  no  reputa- 
tion, but  each  like  a mountain  top  reaching  out  of 
a submerged  valley,  stony  and  bare.  Melos  was 
farther  off,  but  quite  distinct — the  old  scene  of 
Athenian  violence  and  cruelty,  to  Thucydides  so 
impressive,  that  he  dramatizes  the  incidents,  and 
passes  from  cold  narrative  and  set  oration  to  a 
dialogue  between  the  oppressors  and  the  oppressed. 
Melian  starvation  was  long  proverbial  among  the 
Greeks,  and  there  the  fashionable  and  aristocratic 
Alcibiades  applied  the  arguments  and  carried  out 
the  very  policy  which  the  tanner  Cleon  could  not 
propose  without  being  pilloried  by  the  great  histo- 


16 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


rian  whom  he  made  his  foe.  This  and  other  islands, 
which  were  always  looked  upon  by  the  mainland 
Greeks  with  some  contempt,  have  of  late  days  re- 
ceived special  attention  from  archaeologists.  It  is 
said  that  the  present  remains  of  the  old  Greek  type 
are  now  to  be  found  among  the  islanders — an  obser- 
vation which  I found  fully  justified  by  a short  sojourn 
at  iEgina,  where  the  very  types  of  the  Parthenon 
frieze  can  be  found  among  the  inhabitants,  if  the 
traveller  will  look  for  them  diligently.  The  noblest 
and  most  perfect  type  of  Greek  beauty  has,  indeed, 
come  to  us  from  Melos,  but  not  in  real  life.  It  is 
the  celebrated  Venus  of  Melos — the  most  pure  and 
perfect  image  we  know  of  that  goddess,  and  one 
which  puts  to  shame  the  lower  ideals  so  much 
admired  in  the  museums  of  Italy.1 

Another  remark  should  be  made  in  justice  to  the 
islands,  that  the  groups  of  Therasia  and  Santorin, 
which  lie  round  the  crater  of  a great  active  volcano, 
have  supplied  us  not  only  with  the  oldest  forms  of 
the  Greek  alphabet  in  their  inscriptions,  but  with 
far  the  oldest  vestiges  of  inhabitants  in  any  part  of 
Greece.  In  these,  beneath  the  lava  slopes  formed 
by  a great  eruption — an  eruption  earlier  than  any 
history,  except,  perhaps,  Egyptian — have  been  found 
the  dwellings,  the  implements,  and  the  bones  of  men 
who  cannot  have  lived  there  much  later  than  2000 

1 I should  except  the  splendid  Venus  victrix , as  she  is  called, 
found  at  Capua,  and  now  in  the  Museum  of  Naples. 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


17 


B.  C.  The  arts,  as  well  as  the  implements,  of  these 
old  dwellers  in  their  Stone  Age,  have  shown  us  how 
very  ancient  Greek  forms,  and  even  Greek  decora- 
tions, are  in  the  world’s  history : and  we  may  yet 
from  them  and  from  further  researches,  such  as 
Schliemann’sj  be  able  to  reconstruct  the  state  of 
things  in  Greece  before  the  Greeks  came  from  their 
Eastern  homes.  The  special  reason  why  these 
inquiries  seem  to  me  likely  to  lead  to  good  result 
is  this,  that  what  is  called  neo-barbarism  is  less  likely 
to  mislead  us  here  than  elsewhere.  Neo-barbarism 
means  the  occurrence  in  later  times  of  the  manners 
and  customs  which  generally  mark  very  old  and 
primitive  times.  Some  few  things  of  this  kind 
survive  everywhere ; thus,  in  the  Irish  Island  of 
Arran,  a group  of  famous  savants  mistook  a stone 
donkey-shed  of  two  years’  standing  for  the  build- 
ing of  an  extinct  race  in  gray  antiquity : as  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  construction  had  not  changed 
from  the  oldest  type.  But  the  spread  of  culture, 
and  the  fulness  of  population  in  the  good  days  of 
Greece,  make  it  certain  that  every  spot  about  the 
thoroughfares  was  improved  and  civilized ; and  so, 
as  I have  said,  there  is  less  chance  here  than  any- 
where of  our  being  deceived  into  mistaking  rudeness 
for  oldness,  and  raising  a modern  savage  to  the  dig- 
nity of  a primeval  man. 

But  we  must  not  allow  speculations  to  spoil  our 
observations,  nor  waste  the  precious  moments  given 
2 


18 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


us  to  take  in  once  for  all  the  general  outline  of  the 
Greek  coasts.  While  the  long  string  of  islands, 
from  Melos  up  to  the  point  of  Attica,  framed  in 
our  view  to  the  right,  to  the  left  the  great  bay  of 
Argolis  opened  far  into  the  land,  making  a sort  of 
vista  into  the  Peloponnesus,  so  that  the  mountains 
of  Arcadia  could  be  seen  far  to  the  west  standing 
out  against  the  setting  sun ; for  the  day  was  now 
clearer — the  clouds  began  to  break,  and  let  us  feel 
touches  of  the  sun’s  heat  towards  evening.  As  we 
passed  Hydra,  the  night  began  to  close  about  us, 
and  we  were  obliged  to  make  out  the  rest  of  our 
geography  with  the  aid  of  a rich  full  moon. 

But  these  Attic  waters,  if  I may  so  call  them,  will 
be  mentioned  again  and  again  in  the  course  of  our 
voyage,  and  need  not  now  be  described  in  detail. 
The  reader  will,  I think,  get  the  clearest  notion  of 
the  size  of  Greece  by  reflecting  upon  the  time 
required  to  sail  round  the  Peloponnesus  in  a good 
steamer.  The  ship  in  which  we  made  the  journey 
— the  Donnai , of  the  French  Messagerie  Company, 
— made  about  eight  miles  an  hour.  Coming  within 
close  range  of  the  coast  of  Messene,  about  five 
o’clock  in  the  morning,  we  rounded  all  the  head- 
lands, and  arrived  at  the  Peirseus  about  eleven 
o’clock  the  same  night.  So,  then,  the  Peloponnesus 
is  a small  peninsula,  but  even  to  an  outside  view 
u very  large  for  its  size for  the  actual  climbing 
up  and  down  of  constant  mountains,  in  any  land 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


19 


journey  from  place  to  place,  makes  the  distance  in 
miles  very  much  greater  than  the  line  as  the  crow 
flies.  If  I said  that  every  ordinary  distance,  as 
measured  on  the  map,  is  doubled  in  the  journey, 
I believe  I should  be  under  the  mark. 

It  may  be  well  to  add  a word  here  upon  the  other 
route  into  Greece,  that  by  Brindisi  and  the  Ionian 
Islands.  It  is  fully  as  picturesque,  in  some  respects 
more  so,  for  there  is  no  more  beautiful  bay  than  the 
long  fiord  leading  up  to  Corinth,  which  passes  Patras, 
Yostitza,  and  Itea,  the  port  of  Delphi.  The  Akro- 
keraunian  mountains,  which  are  the  first  point  of 
the  Albanian  coast  seen  by  the  traveller,  are  also 
very  striking,  and  no  one  can  forget  the  charms  and 
beauties  of  Corfu.  I think  a market-day  in  Corfu, 
with  those  royal-looking  peasant  lads,  who  come 
clothed  in  sheepskins  from  the  coast,  and  spend  their 
day  handling  knives  and  revolvers  with  peculiar 
interest  at  the  stalls,  is  among  the  most  picturesque 
sights  to  be  seen  in  Europe.  The  lofty  mountains 
of  Ithaca  and  its  greater  sister,  and  then  the  rich 
belt  of  verdure  along  the  east  side  of  Zante — all 
these  features  make  this  journey  one  of  surpassing 
beauty  and  interest.  Yet  notwithstanding  all  these 
advantages,  there  is  not  the  same  excitement  in  first 
approaching  semi-Greek  or  outlying  Greek  settle- 
ments, and  only  gradually  arriving  at  the  real  centres 
of  historic  interest.  Such  at  least  was  the  feeling 
(shared  by  other  observers)  which  I had  in  approach- 


20 


RAMBLES  TN  GREECE. 


ing  Greece  by  this  more  varied  route.  No  traveller, 
however,  is  likely  to  miss  either,  as  it  is  obviously 
best  to  enter  by  one  route  and  depart  by  the  other, 
in  a voyage  not  intended  to  reach  beyond  Greece. 
But  from  what  I have  said,  it  may  be  seen  that  I 
prefer  to  enter  by  the  direct  route  from  Naples,  and 
to  leave  by  the  Gulf  of  Corinth  and  the  Ionian 
Islands.  I trust  that  ere  long  arrangements  may 
be  made  for  permitting  travellers  who  cross  the 
isthmus  to  make  an  excursion  to  the  Akrokorinthus 
— the  great  citadel  of  Corinth — which  they  are  now 
compelled  to  hurry  past,  in  order  to  catch  the  boat 
for  Athens. 

The  modern  Patras,  still  a thriving  port,  is  now 
the  main  point  of  contact  between  Greece  and  the 
rest  of  Europe.  For,  as  a railway  has  now  been 
opened  from  Patras  to  Athens,  all  the  steamers  from 
Brindisi,  Venice,  and  Trieste  put  in  there,  and  from 
thence  the  stream  of  travellers  proceeds  by  the  new 
line  to  the  capital.  The  old  plan  of  steaming  up  the 
long  fiord  to  Corinth  is  abandoned  ; still  more  the  once 
popular  route  round  the  Morea,  which,  if  somewhat 
slower,  at  least  saved  the  unshipping  at  Lechseum, 
the  drive  in  omnibuses  across  the  isthmus,  and  reship- 
ment at  Cenchrese — all  done  with  much  confusion, 
and  with  loss  and  damage  to  luggage  and  temper. 
Not  that  there  is  no  longer  confusion.  The  railway 
station  at  Patras,  and  that  at  Athens,  are  the  most 
curious  bear-gardens  in  which  business  ever  was 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 


21 


done.  The  traveller  (I  speak  of  the  year  of  our 
Lord  1889)  is  informed  that  unless  he  is  there  an 
hour  before  the  time  he  will  not  get  his  luggage 
weighed  and  despatched.  And  when  he  comes  down 
from  his  comfortable  hotel  to  find  out  what  it  all 
means,  he  meets  the  whole  population  of  the  town 
in  possession  of  the  station.  Everybody  who  has 
nothing  to  do  gets  in  the  way  of  those  who  have ; 
everything  is  full  of  noise  and  confusion. 

At  last  the  train  steams  out  of  the  station,  and 
takes  its  deliberate  way  along  the  coast,  through 
woods  of  Hr  trees,  bushes  of  arbutus  and  mastic, 
and  the  many  flowers  which  stud  the  earth.  And 
here  already  the  traveller,  looking  out  of  the 
window,  can  form  an  idea  of  the  delights  of  real 
Greek  travel,  by  which  he  must  understand  mount- 
ing a mule  or  pony,  and  making  his  way  along 
woody  paths,  or  beside  the  quiet  sea,  or  up  the  steep 
side  of  a rocky  defile.  Every  half-hour  the  train 
crosses  torrents  coming  from  the  mountains,  which 
in  flood  times  color  the  sea  for  some  distance  with 
the  brilliant  brick-red  of  the  clay  they  carry  with 
them  from  their  banks.  The  peacock  blue  of  the 
open  sea  bounds  this  red  water  with  a definite  line, 
and  the  contrast  in  the  bright  sun  is  something  very 
startling.  Shallow  banks  of  sand  also  reflect  their 
pale  yellow  in  many  places,  so  that  the  brilliancy  of 
this  gulf  exceeds  anything  I had  ever  seen  in  sea  or 
lake.  We  pass  the  sites  of  ./Egion,  now  Vostitza, 


22 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


once  famous  as  the  capital  or  centre  (politically)  of 
the  Achsean  League.  We  pass  Sicyon,  the  home 
of  Aratus,  the  great  regenerator,  the  mean  destroyer 
of  that  League,  as  you  can  still  read  in  Plutarch’s  fas- 
cinating life  of  the  man.  But  these  places,  like  so 
many  others  in  Greece,  once  famous,  have  now  no 
trace  of  their  greatness  left  above  ground.  The  day 
may,  however,  still  come  when  another  Schliemann 
will  unearth  the  records  and  fragments  of  a civil- 
ization distinguished  even  in  Greece  for  refinement. 
Sicyon  was  a famous  school  of  art.  Painting  and 
sculpture  flourished  there,  and  there  was  a special 
school  of  Sicyon,  whose  features  we  can  still  recognize 
in  extant  copies  of  the  famous  statues  they  produced. 
There  is  a statue  known  as  the  Canon  Statue,  a 
model  of  human  proportions,  which  was  the  work  of 
the  famous  Polyeleitus  of  Sicyon,  and  which  we 
know  from  various  imitations  preserved  at  Rome 
and  elsewhere.  But  we  shall  return  in  due  time  to 
Greek  sculpture  as  a whole,  and  shall  not  interrupt 
our  journey  at  this  moment. 

All  that  we  have  passed  through  hitherto  may  be 
classed  under  the  title  of  u first  impressions.”  The 
wild  northern  coast  shows  us  but  one  inlet,  of  the 
Gulf  of  Salona,  with  a little  port  of  Itea  at  its 
mouth.  This  was  the  old  highway  to  ascend  to  the 
oracle  of  Delphi  on  the  snowy  Parnassus,  which  we 
shall  approach  better  from  the  Boeotian  side.  But 
now  we  strain  our  eyes  to  behold  the  great  rock  of 


NATIONAL  CHARACTER. 


23 


Corinth,  and  to  invade  this,  the  first  great  centre  of 
Greek  life,  which  closes  the  long  bay  at  its  western- 
most end. 

I will  add  a word  upon  the  form  and  scope  of  the 
following  work.  My  aim  is  to  bring  the  living 
features  of  Greece  home  to  the  student,  by  connect- 
ing them,  as  far  as  possible,  with  the  facts  of  older  his- 
tory, which  are  so  familiar  to  most  of  us.  I shall  also 
have  a good  deal  to  say  about  the  modern  politics  of 
Greece,  and  the  character  of  the  modern  population. 
A long  and  careful  survey  of  the  extant  literature 
of  ancient  Greece  has  convinced  me  that  the  pictures 
usually  drawn  of  the  old  Greeks  are  idealized,  and 
that  the  real  people  were  of  a very  different — if  you 
please,  of  a much  lower — type.  I may  mention,  as 
a very  remarkable  confirmation  of  my  judgment, 
that  intelligent  people  at  Athens,  who  had  read  my 
opinions  elsewhere  set  forth  upon  the  subject,1  were 
so  much  struck  with  the  close  resemblance  of  my 
pictures  of  the  old  Greeks  to  the  present  inhabitants, 
that  they  concluded  that  I must  have  visited  the 
country  before  writing  these  opinions,  and  that  I 
was,  in  fact,  drawing  my  classical  people  from  the 
life  of  the  moderns.  If  this  is  not  a proof  of  the 
justice  of  these  views,  it  at  least  strongly  suggests 
that  they  may  be  true,  and  is  a powerful  support  in 
arguing  the  matter  on  the  perfectly  independent 
ground  of  the  inferences  from  old  literature.  After 
1 In  my  Social  Life  in  Greece,  from  Homer  to  Menander. 


24 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


all,  national  characteristics  are  very  permanent,  and 
very  hard  to  shake  off,  and  it  would  seem  strange, 
indeed,  if  both  these  and  the  Greek  language  should 
have  remained  almost  intact,  and  yet  the  race  have 
either  changed,  or  been  saturated  with  foreign  blood. 
Foreign  invasions  and  foreign  conquests  of  Greece 
were  common  enough  ; but  here,  as  elsewhere,  the 
climate  and  circumstances  which  have  formed  a race 
seem  to  conspire  to  preserve  it,  and  to  absorb  foreign 
types  and  features,  rather  than  to  permit  the  extinc- 
tion or  total  change  of  the  older  race. 

I feel  much  fortified  in  my  judgment  of  Greek 
character  by  finding  that  a very  smart,  though  too 
sarcastic,  observer,  M.  E.  About,  in  his  well-known 
Grece  contemporaine , estimates  the  people  very 
nearly  as  I am  disposed  to  estimate  the  common 
people  of  ancient  Greece.  He  notices,  in  the 
second  and  succeeding  chapters  of  his  book,  a 
series  of  features  which  make  this  nationality  a very 
distinct  one  in  Europe.  Starting  from  the  question 
of  national  beauty,  and  holding  rightly  that  the 
beauty  of  the  men  is  greater  than  that  of  the  women, 
he  touches  on  a point  which  told  very  deeply  upon 
all  the  history  of  Greek  art.  At  the  present  day, 
the  Greek  men  are  much  more  particular  about  their 
appearance,  and  more  vain  of  it,  than  the  women. 
The  most  striking  beauty  among  them  is  that  of 
young  men ; and  as  to  the  care  of  figure,  as  About 
well  observes,  in  Greece  it  is  the  men  who  pinch 


NATIONAL  CHARACTER. 


25 


their  waists — a fashion  unknown  among  Greek 
women.  Along  with  this  handsome  appearance,  the 
people  are,  without  doubt,  a very  temperate  people ; 
although  they  make  a great  deal  of  strong  wine, 
they  seldom  drink  much,  and  are  far  more  critical 
about  good  water  than  wine.  Indeed,  in  so  warm  a 
climate,  wine  is  disagreeable  even  to  the  northern 
traveller ; and,  as  Herodotus  remarked  long  ago, 
very  likely  to  produce  insanity,  the  rarest  form  of 
disease  among  the  Greeks.  In  fact,  they  are  not 
a passionate  race — having  at  all  ages  been  gifted 
with  a very  bright  intellect,  and  a great  reason- 
ableness ; they  have  an  intellectual  insight  into 
things,  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  storms  of 
wilder  passion. 

They  are,  probably,  as  clever  a people  as  can  be 
found  in  the  world,  and  fit  for  any  mental  work 
whatever.  This  they  have  proved,  not  only  by  get- 
ting into  their  hands  all  the  trade  of  the  Eastern 
Mediterranean,  but  by  holding  their  own  perfectly 
among  English  merchants  in  England.  As  yet  they 
have  not  found  any  encouragement  in  other  direc- 
tions ; but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  if  settled 
among  a great  people,  and  weaned  from  the  follies 
and  jealousies  of  Greek  politics,  they  would  (like 
the  Jews)  outrun  many  of  us,  both  in  politics  and  in 
science.  However  that  may  be — and  perhaps  such 
a development  requires  moral  qualities  in  which 
they  seem  deficient — it  is  certain  that  their  work- 


26 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


men  learn  trades  with  extraordinary  quiekness ; 
while  their  young  commercial  or  professional  men 
acquire  languages,  and  the  amount  of  knowledge 
necessary  for  making  money,  with  the  most  singular 
aptness.  But  as  yet  they  are  stimulated  chiefly  by 
the  love  of  gain. 

Besides  this,  they  have  great  national  pride,  and, 
as  M.  About  remarks,  we  need  never  despair  of  a 
people  who  are  at  the  same  time  intelligent  and 
proud.  They  are  very  fond  of  displaying  their 
knowledge  on  all  points — I noted  especially  their 
pride  in  exhibiting  their  acquaintance  with  old  Greek 
history  and  legend.  When  I asked  them  whether 
they  believed  the  old  mythical  stories  which  they 
repeated,  they  seemed  afraid  of  being  thought  simple 
if  they  confessed  that  they  did,  and  of  injuring  the 
reputation  of  their  ancestors  if  they  declared  they 
did  not.  So  they  used  to  preserve  a discreet  neu- 
trality. 

The  instinct  of  liberty  appears  to  me  as  strong  in 
the  nation  now  as  it  ever  was.  In  fact,  the  people 
have  never  been  really  enslaved.  The  eternal  ref- 
uge for  liberty  afforded  by  the  sea  and  the  moun- 
tains has  saved  them  from  this  fate ; and,  even 
beneath  the  heavy  yoke  of  the  Turks,  a large  part 
of  the  nation  was  not  subdued,  but,  in  the  guise  of 
bandits  and  pirates,  enjoyed  the  great  privilege  for 
which  their  ancestors  had  contended  so  earnestly. 
The  Mainotes,  for  example,  of  whom  I have  just 


NATIONAL  CHARACTER. 


27 


spoken  as  occupying  the  coast  of  Messene,  never 
tolerated  any  resident  Turkish  magistrate  among 
them,  but  u handed  to  a trembling  tax-collector  a 
little  purse  of  gold  pieces,  hung  on  the  end  of  a 
naked  swordT  1 Now,  the  whole  nation  is  more  in- 
tensely and  thoroughly  democratic  than  any  other  in 
Europe.  They  acknowledge  no  nobility  save  that 
of  descent  from  the  chiefs  who  fought  in  the  war  of 
liberation  ; they  will  allow  no  distinction  of  classes ; 
every  common  mule-boy  is  a gentleman  ( xupiot; ),  and 
fully  your  equal.  He  sits  in  the  room  at  meals,  and 
joins  in  the  conversation  at  dinner.  They  only 
tolerate  a king  because  they  cannot  endure  one  of 
themselves  as  their  superior.  This  jealousy  is,  un- 
fortunately, a mainspring  of  Greek  politics,  and 
when  combined  with  a dislike  of  agriculture,  as  a 
stupid  and  unintellectual  occupation,  fills  all  the 
country  with  politicians,  merchants,  and  journalists. 
Moreover,  they  want  the  spirit  of  subordination  of 
their  great  ancestors,  and  are  often  accused  of  lack 
of  honesty — a very  grave  feature,  and  the  greatest 
obstacle  to  progress  in  all  ages.  It  is  better,  howr- 
ever,  to  let  points  of  character  come  out  gradually 
in  the  course  of  our  studies  than  to  bring  them  to- 
gether into  an  official  portrait.  It  is  impossible  to 
wander  through  the  country  without  seeing  and 
understanding  the  inhabitants ; for  the  traveller  is 


1 The  words  are  M.  About’s. 


28 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


in  constant  contact  with  them,  and  they  have  no 
scruple  in  displaying  all  their  character. 

M.  About  has  earned  the  profound  hatred  and 
contempt  of  the  nation  by  his  picture,  and  I do  not 
wonder  at  it,  seeing  that  the  tone  in  which  he  writes 
is  flippant  and  ill-natured,  and  seems  to  betoken 
certain  private  animosities,  of  which  the  Greeks  tell 
numerous  anecdotes. 

I have  no  such  excuse  for  being  severe  or  ill- 
natured,  as  I found  nothing  but  kindness  and  hospi- 
tality everywhere,  and  sincerely  hope  that  my  free 
judgments  may  not  hurt  any  sensitive  Greek  who 
may  chance  to  see  them.  Even  the  great  Finlay — 
one  of  their  best  friends — is  constantly  censured  by 
them  for  his  writings  about  Modern  Greece. 

But,  surely,  any  real  lover  of  Greece  must  feel 
that  plain  speaking  about  the  faults  of  the  nation  is 
much  wanted.  The  worship  lavished  upon  them  by 
Byron  and  his  school  has  done  its  good,  and  can  now 
only  do  harm.  On  the  other  hand,  I must  confess 
that  a longer  and  more  intimate  intercourse  with  the 
Greeks  of  the  interior  and  of  the  mountains  leads  a 
fair  observer  to  change  his  earlier  estimate,  and 
think  more  highly  of  the  nation  than  at  first  ac- 
quaintance. Unfortunately,  the  Greeks  known  to 
most  of  us  are  sailors — mongrel  villains  from  the  ports 
of  the  Levant,  having  very  little  in  common  with  the 
bold,  honest,  independent  peasant  who  lives  under 
his  vine  and  his  fig-tree  in  the  valleys  of  Arcadia 


NATIONAL  CHARACTER. 


29 


or  of  Phocis.  It  was,  no  doubt,  an  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  sound  core  of  the  nation  which  inspired 
Byron  with  that  enthusiasm  which  many  now  think 
extravagant  and  misplaced.  But  here,  as  else- 
where, the  folly  of  a great  genius  has  more  truth  in 
it  than  the  wisdom  of  his  feebler  critics. 


CHAPTER  II. 


GENERAL  IMPRESSIONS  OF  ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 

There  is  probably  no  more  exciting  voyage,  to 
any  educated  man,  than  the  approach  to  Athens 
from  the  sea.  Every  promontory,  every  island, 
every  bay,  has  its  history.  If  he  knows  the  map  of 
Greece,  he  needs  no  guide-book  or  guide  to  distract 
him ; if  he  does  not,  he  needs  little  Greek  to  ask  of 
any  one  near  him  the  name  of  this  or  that  object ; 
and  the  mere  names  are  sufficient  to  stir  up  all  his 
classical  recollections.  But  he  must  make  up  his 
mind  not  to  be  shocked  at  JEgina  or  PJnalerum , and 
even  to  be  told  that  he  is  utterly  wrong  in  his  way 
of  pronouncing  them. 

It  was  our  fortune  to  come  into  Greece  by  night, 
with  a splendid  moon  shining  upon  the  summer  sea. 
The  varied  outlines  of  Sunium  on  the  one  side,  and 
iEgina  on  the  other,  were  very  clear,  but  in  the  deep 
shadows  there  was  mystery  enough  to  feed  the  burn- 
ing impatience  to  see  it  all  in  the  light  of  common 
day  ; and  though  we  had  passed  iEgina,  and  had 
come  over  against  the  rocky  Salamis,  as  yet  there 
was  no  sign  of  Peirseus.  Then  came  the  light  on 
Psyttalea,  and  they  told  us  that  the  harbor  was  right 
30 


Along-  the  Coast  from  the  Throne  of  Xerxes 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


31 


opposite.  Yet  we  came  nearer  and  nearer,  and  no 
harbor  could  be  seen.  The  barren  rocks  of  the 
coast  seemed  to  form  one  unbroken  line,  and  nowhere 
was  there  a sign  of  indentation  or  of  break  in  the 
land.  But,  suddenly,  as  we  turned  from  gazing  on 
Psyttalea,  where  the  flower  of  the  Persian  nobles 
had  once  stood  in  despair,  looking  upon  their  fate 
gathering  about  them,  the  vessel  had  turned  east- 
ward, and  discovered  to  us  the  crowded  lights  and 
thronging  ships  of  the  famous  harbor.  Small  it 
looked,  very  small,  but  evidently  deep  to  the  water’s 
edge,  for  great  ships  seemed  touching  the  shore  j 
and  so  narrow  is  the  mouth  that  we  almost  won- 
dered how  they  had  made  their  entrance  in  safety. 
But  we  saw  it  some  weeks  later,  with  nine  men- 
of-war  towering  above  all  its  merchant  shipping 
and  its  steamers,  and  among  them  crowds  of 
ferry-boats  skimming  about  in  the  breeze  with  their 
wing-like  sails.  Then  we  found  out  that,  like  the 
rest  of  Greece,  the  Peirseus  was  far  larger  than  it 
looked. 

It  differed  little,  alas ! from  more  vulgar  harbors 
in  the  noise  and  confusion  of  disembarking ; in  the 
delays  of  its  custom  house  j in  the  extortion  and 
insolence  of  its  boatmen.  It  is  still,  as  in  Plato’s 
day,  “the  haunt  of  sailors,  where  good  manners  are 
unknown.”  But  when  we  had  escaped  the  turmoil, 
and  were  seated  silently  on  the  way  to  Athens, 
almost  along  the  very  road  of  classical  days,  all  our 


32 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


classical  notions,  which  had  been  scared  away  by 
vulgar  bargaining  and  protesting,  regained  their 
sway.  We  had  sailed  in  through  the  narrow  pas- 
sage where  almost  every  great  Greek  that  ever 
lived  had  sometime  passed ; now  we  went  along  the 
line,  hardly  less  certain,  which  had  seen  all  these 
great  ones  going  to  and  fro  between  the  city  and  the 
port.  The  present  road  is  shaded  with  great  silver 
poplars  and  plane  trees,  and  the  moon  had  set,  so  that 
our  approach  to  Athens  was  even  more  mysterious 
than  our  approach  to  the  Peirseus.  We  were,  more- 
over, perplexed  at  our  carriage  stopping  under  some 
large  plane  trees,  though  we  had  driven  but  two 
miles,  and  the  night  was  far  spent.  Our  coachman 
would  listen  to  no  advice  or  persuasion.  We  learned 
afterwards  that  every  carriage  going  to  and  from  the 
Peirseus  stops  at  this  half-way  house,  that  the  horses 
may  drink,  and  the  coachman  take  u Turkish  de- 
light v and  water.  There  is  no  exception  made  to 
this  custom,  and  the  traveller  is  bound  to  submit. 
At  last  we  entered  the  unpretending  ill-built  streets 
at  the  west  of  Athens. 

The  stillness  of  the  night  is  a phenomenon  hardly 
known  in  that  city.  No  sooner  have  men  and 
horses  gone  to  rest  than  all  the  dogs  and  cats  of  the 
town  come  out  to  bark  and  yell  about  the  thorough- 
hires.  Athens,  like  all  parts  of  modern  Greece, 
abounds  in  dogs.  You  cannot  pass  a sailing  boat 
in  the  Levant  without  seeing  a dog  looking  angrily 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


33 


over  the  taffrail,  and  barking  at  you  as  you  pass. 
Every  ship  in  the  Peirseus  has  at  least  one,  often  a 
great  many,  on  board.  I suppose  every  house  in 
Athens  is  provided  with  one.  These  creatures 
seem  to  make  it  their  business  to  prevent  silence 
and  rest  all  the  night  long.  They  were  ably 
seconded  by  cats  and  crowing  cocks,  as  well  as  by 
an  occasional  wakeful  donkey ; and  both  cats  and 
donkeys  seemed  to  have  voices  of  almost  tropical 
violence. 

So  the  night  wore  away  under  rapidly  growing 
adverse  impressions.  How  is  a man  to  admire  art 
and  revere  antiquity  if  he  is  robbed  of  his  repose  ? 
The  Greeks  sleep  so  much  in  the  day  that  they 
seem  indifferent  about  nightly  disturbances ; and, 
perhaps,  after  many  years’  habit,  even  Athenian 
caterwauling  may  fail  to  rouse  the  sleeper.  But 
what  chance  has  the  passing  traveller  ? Even  the 
strongest  ejaculations  are  but  a narrow  outlet  for  his 
feelings. 

In  this  state  of  mind,  then,  I rose  at  the  break  of 
dawn  to  see  whether  the  window  would  afford  any 
prospect  to  serve  as  a requital  for  angry  sleeplessness. 
And  there,  right  opposite,  stood  the  rock  which  of 
all  rocks  in  the  world’s  history  has  done  most 
for  literature  and  art — the  rock  which  poets,  and 
orators,  and  architects,  and  historians  have  ever 
glorified,  and  cannot  stay  their  praise — which  is 
ever  new  and  ever  old,  ever  fresh  in  its  decay,  ever 
3 


34 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


perfect  in  its  ruin,  ever  living  in  its  death — the 
Acropolis  of  Athens. 

When  I saw  my  dream  and  longing  of  many  years 
fulfilled,  the  first  rays  of  the  rising  sun  had  just 
touched  the  heights,  while  the  town  below  was  still 
hid  in  gloom.  Rock,  and  rampart,  and  ruined  fanes 
— all  were  colored  in  uniform  tints ; the  lights  were 
of  a deep  rich  orange,  and  the  shadows  of  dark 
crimson,  with  the  deeper  lines  of  purple.  There 
was  no  variety  in  color  between  what  nature  and 
what  man  had  set  there.  No  whiteness  shone  from 
the  marble,  no  smoothness  showed  upon  the  hewn 
and  polished  blocks ; but  the  whole  mass  of  orange 
and  crimson  stood  out  together  into  the  pale,  pure 
Attic  air.  There  it  stood,  surrounded  by  lanes  and 
hovels,  still  perpetuating  the  great  old  contrast  in 
Greek  history,  of  magnificence  and  meanness — of 
loftiness  and  lowness — as  well  in  outer  life  as  in  in- 
ward motive.  And,  as  it  were  in  illustration  of  that 
art  of  which  it  was  the  most  perfect  bloom,  and 
which  lasted  in  perfection  but  a day  of  history,  I saw 
it  again  and  again,  in  sunlight  and  in  shade,  in  day- 
light and  at  night,  but  never  again  in  this  perfect 
and  singular  beauty. 

If  we  except  the  Acropolis,  there  are  only  two 
striking  buildings  of  classical  antiquity  within  the 
modern  town  of  Athens — the  Temple  of  Theseus  and 
the  few  standing  columns  of  Hadrian’s  great  temple 
to  Zeus.  The  latter  is,  indeed,  very  remarkable. 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


35 


The  pillars  stand  on  a vacant  platform,  once  the  site 
of  the  gigantic  temple ; the  Acropolis  forms  a noble 
background ; away  towards  Phalerum  stretch  undu- 
lating hills  which  hide  the  sea  j to  the  left  (if  we 
look  from  the  town),  Mount  Hymettus  raises  its 
barren  slopes ; and  in  the  valley,  immediately  below 
the  pillars,  flows  the  famous  little  Ilisus,1  glorified 
for  ever  by  the  poetry  of  Plato,  and  in  its  summer- 
dry  bed  the  fountain  Callirrhoe,  from  which  the 
Athenian  maidens  still  draw  water  as  of  old — water 
the  purest  and  best  in  the  city.  It  wells  out  from 
under  a great  limestone  rock,  all  plumed  with  the 
rich  Capillus  Veneris , which  seems  to  find  out  and 
frame  with  its  delicate  green  every  natural  spring 
in  Greece. 

But  the  pillars  of  the  Temple  of  Zeus,  though 
very  stately  and  massive,  and  with  their  summits 
bridged  together  by  huge  blocks  of  architrave,  are 
still  not  Athenian,  not  Attic,  not  (if  I may  say  so) 
genuine  Greek  work ; for  the  Corinthian  capitals, 
which  are  here  seen  perhaps  in  their  greatest  per- 
fection, cannot  be  called  pure  Greek  taste.  As  is 
well  known,  they  were  hardly  ever  used,  and  never 
used  prominently,  till  the  Graeco-Roman  stage  of 

1 I beg  to  point  out  to  a learned  and  kindly  critic  in  the 
Athenteum,  who  corrected  several  faults  of  spelling  in  the  first 
edition,  that  this  is  the  form  of  the  name  warranted  by  inscrip- 
tions, and  now  to  be  received  by  scholars  : cf.  Wachsmuth’s  Stadt 
Athen , i.  p.  49. 


36 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


art.  The  older  Greeks  seem  to  have  had  a fixed 
objection  to  intricate  ornamentation  in  their  larger 
temples.  All  the  greater  temples  of  Greece  and 
Greek  Italy  are  of  the  Doric  Order,  with  its  per- 
fectly plain  capital.  Groups  of  figures  were  ad- 
mitted upon  the  pediments  and  metopes,  because 
these  groups  formed  clear  and  massive  designs 
visible  from  a distance.  But  such  intricacies  as 
those  of  the  Corinthian  capital  were  not  approved, 
except  in  small  monuments,  which  were  merely 
intended  for  close  inspection,  and  where  delicate 
ornament  gave  grace  to  a building  which  could  not 
lay  claim  to  grandeur.  Such  is  clearly  the  case  with 
the  only  purely  Greek  (as  opposed  to  Graeco-Roman) 
monument  of  the  Corinthian  Order,  which  is  still 
standing — the  Choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates  at 
Athens.1  It  was  also  the  case  with  that  beautiful 
little  temple,  or  group  of  temples,  known  as  the 
Erechtheum,  which,  standing  beside  the  great  mas- 
sive Parthenon  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  presents 

1 This  beautiful  monument  has  been  so  defaced  and  mutilated 
that  the  photographs  of  to-day  give  no  idea  of  its  decoration. 
The  careful  drawings  and  restorations  of  Stuart  and  Revett  were 
made  in  the  last  century,  when  it  was  still  comparatively  intact, 
and  it  is  through  their  book  alone  that  we  can  now  estimate  the 
merits  of  many  of  the  ancient  buildings  of  Athens.  It  should  be 
added  that  there  was  a solitary  Corinthian  capital  found  in  the 
temple  of  Bass®,  which  I will  describe  in  another  chapter.  But 
this  still  affords  an  unsolved  problem.  The  Philippeion  at  Olympia 
(built  by  the  famous  Philip  of  Macedon)  also  contained  an  inner 
circle  of  Corinthian  pillars,  while  the  outer  circle  was  Ionic. 


The  Erechtheum  from  the  West,  Athens 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


37 


the  very  contrasts  upon  which  I am  insisting.  It  is 
small  and  essentially  graceful,  being  built  in  the 
Ionic  style,  with  rich  ornamentation ; while  the 
Parthenon  is  massive,  and,  in  spite  of  much  orna- 
mentation, very  severe  in  its  plainer  Doric  style. 

But  to  return  to  the  pillars  of  Hadrian’s  Temple. 
They  are  about  fifty-five  feet  high,  by  six  and  a 
half  feet  in  diameter,  and  no  Corinthian  pillar  of 
this  colossal  size  would  ever  have  been  set  up  by 
the  Greeks  in  their  better  days.  So,  then,  in  spite 
of  the  grandeur  of  these  isolated  remains — a grandeur 
not  destroyed,  perhaps  even  not  diminished,  by  coffee 
tables,  and  inquiring  waiters,  and  military  bands, 
and  a vulgar  crowd  about  their  base — to  the  student 
of  really  Greek  art  they  are  not  of  the  highest 
interest  5 nay,  they  even  suggest  to  him  what  the 
Periclean  Greeks  would  have  done  had  they,  with 
such  resources,  completed  the  great  temple  due  to 
the  munificence  of  the  Roman  Emperor. 

Let  us  turn,  in  preference,  to  the  Temple  of 
Theseus,  at  the  opposite  extremity  of  the  town,  it 
too  standing  upon  a clear  platform,  and  striking  the 
traveller  with  its  symmetry  and  its  completeness,  as 
he  approaches  from  the  Peirseus.  It  is  in  every 
way  a contrast  to  the  temple  of  which  we  have  just 
spoken.  It  is  very  small — in  fact  so  small  in  com- 
parison with  the  Parthenon,  or  the  great  temple  at 
Psestum,  that  we  are  disappointed  with  it ; and  yet 
it  is  built,  not  in  the  richly-decorated  Ionic  style  of 


38 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  Erechtheum,  but  in  severe  Doric;  and  though 
small  and  plain,  it  is  very  perfect — as  perfect  as  any 
such  relic  that  we  have.  It  is  many  centuries  older 
than  Hadrian’s  great  temple.  It  could  have  been 
destroyed  with  one-tenth  of  the  trouble,  and  yet  it 
still  stands  almost  in  its  perfection.  The  reason  is 
simply  this.  Few  of  the  great  classical  temples 
suffered  much  from  wanton  destruction  till  the 
Middle  Ages.  Now,  in  the  Middle  Ages  this 
temple,  as  well  as  the  Parthenon,  was  usurped  by 
the  Greek  Church,  and  turned  into  a place  of 
Christian  worship.  So,  then,  the  little  Temple  of 
Theseus  has  escaped  the  ravages  which  the  last  few 
centuries — worse  than  all  that  went  before — have 
made  in  the  remains  of  a noble  antiquity.  To 
those  who  desire  to  study  the  effect  of  the  Doric 
Order  this  temple  appears  to  me  an  admirable  speci- 
men. From  its  small  size  and  clear  position,  all  its 
points  are  very  easily  taken  in.  u Such,”  says  Bishop 
Wordsworth,  u is  the  integrity  of  its  structure,  and 
the  distinctness  of  its  details,  that  it  requires  no 
description  beyond  that  which  a few  glances  might 
supply.  Its  beauty  defies  all : its  solid  yet  grace- 
ful form  is,  indeed,  admirable ; and  the  loveliness  of 
its  coloring  is  such  that,  from  the  rich  mellow  hue 
which  the  marble  has  now  assumed,  it  looks  as  if  it 
had  been  quarried,  not  from  the  bed  of  a rocky  moun- 
tain, but  from  the  golden  light  of  an  Athenian  sunset.” 
And  in  like  terms  many  others  have  spoken. 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


39 


I have  only  one  reservation  to  make.  The  Doric 
Order  being  essentially  massive,  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  beautiful  temple  lacks  one  essential  feature  of 
that  order,  and  therefore,  after  the  first  survey,  after 
a single  walk  about  it,  it  loses  to  the  traveller  who 
has  seen  Psestum,  and  who  presently  cannot  fail  to 
see  the  Parthenon,  that  peculiar  effect  of  massive- 
ness— of  almost  Egyptian  solidity — which  is  ever 
present,  and  ever  imposing,  in  these  huger  Doric 
temples.  It  seems  as  if  the  Athenians  themselves 
felt  this — that  the  plain  simplicity  of  its  style  was 
not  effective  without  size — and  accordingly  decorated 
this  structure  with  colors  more  richly  than  their 
other  temples.  All  the  reliefs  and  raised  ornaments 
seem  to  have  been  painted ; other  decorations  were 
added  in  color  on  the  flat  surfaces,  so  that  the  whole 
temple  must  have  been  a mass  of  rich  variegated 
hues,  of  which  blue,  green,  and  red  are  still  dis- 
tinguishable— or  were  in  Stuart’s  time — and  in 
which  bronze  and  gilding  certainly  played  an  im- 
portant part. 

We  are  thus  brought  naturally  face  to  face  with 
one  of  the  peculiarities  of  old  Greek  art  most  dif- 
ficult to  realize,  and  still  more  to  appreciate.1  We 
can  recognize  in  Egyptian  and  in  Assyrian  art  the 

1 The  following  remarks  on  the  polychromy  of  Greek  art  are 
not  intended  for  Professors  of  Fine  Art,  to  whom,  indeed,  few 
things  in  this  book,  if  true,  can  be  new,  but  for  the  ordinary 
reader,  who  may  not  have  seen  it  discussed  elsewhere. 


40 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


richness  and  appropriateness  of  much  coloring. 
Modern  painters  are  becoming  so  alive  to  this,  that 
among  the  most  striking  pictures  in  our  Royal 
Academy  in  London  have  been  seen,  for  some  years 
back,  scenes  from  old  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  life,  in 
which  the  rich  coloring  of  the  architecture  has  been 
quite  a prominent  feature. 

But  in  Greek  art — in  the  perfect  symmetry  of  the 
Greek  temple,  in  the  perfect  grace  of  the  Greek 
statue — we  come  to  think  form  of  such  paramount 
importance,  that  we  look  on  the  beautiful  Parian  and 
Pentelic  marbles  as  specially  suited  for  the  expres- 
sion of  form  apart  from  color.  There  is  even  some- 
thing in  unity  of  tone  that  delights  the  modern  eye. 
Thus,  though  we  feel  that  the  old  Greek  temples 
have  lost  all  their  original  brightness,  yet,  as  I have 
myself  said,  and  as  I have  quoted  from  Bishop 
Wordsworth,  the  rich  mellow  hue  which  tones  all 
these  ruins  has  to  us  its  peculiar  charm.  The  same 
rich  yellow  brown,  almost  the  color  of  the  Roman 
travertine,  is  one  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the 
splendid  remains  which  have  made  Psestum  unique 
in  all  Italy.  This  color  contrasts  beautifully  with 
the  blue  sky  of  southern  Europe ; it  lights  up  with 
extraordinary  richness  in  the  rising  or  setting  sun. 
We  can  easily  conceive  that  were  it  proposed  to 
restore  the  Attic  temples  to  their  pristine  whiteness, 
we  should  feel  a severe  shock,  and  beg  to  have  these 
venerable  buildings  left  in  the  soberness  of  their 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


41 


acquired  color.  Still  more  does  it  shock  us  to  be 
told  that  great  sculptors,  with  Parian  marble  at 
hand,  preferred  to  set  up  images  of  the  gods  in  gold 
and  ivory,  or,  still  worse,  with  parts  of  gold  and 
ivory ; and  that  they  thought  it  right  to  fill  out  the 
eyes  with  precious  stones,  and  set  gilded  wreaths 
upon  colored  hair. 

When  we  first  come  to  realize  these  things,  we 
are  likely  to  exclaim  against  such  a jumble,  as  we 
should  call  it,  of  painting  and  architecture — still 
worse,  of  painting  and  sculpture.  Nor  is  it  possible 
or  reasonable  that  we  should  at  once  submit  to  such 
a revolution  in  our  artistic  ideas,  and  bow  without 
criticism  to  these  shocking  features  in  Greek  art. 
But  if  blind  obedience  to  these  our  great  masters  in 
the  laws  of  beauty  is  not  to  be  commended,  neither 
is  an  absolute  resistance  to  all  argument  on  the 
question  to  be  respected  ; nor  do  I acknowledge  the 
good  sense  or  the  good  taste  of  that  critic  who  insists 
that  nothing  can  possibly  equal  the  color  and  texture 
of  white  marble,  and  that  all  coloring  of  such  a sub- 
stance is  the  mere  remains  of  barbarism.  For,  say 
what  we  will,  the  Greeks  were  certainly,  as  a nation, 
the  best  judges  of  beauty  the  world  has  yet  seen. 
And  this  is  not  all.  The  beauty  of  which  they  were 
evidently  the  most  fond  was  beauty  of  form — har- 
mony of  proportions,  symmetry  of  design.  They 
always  hated  the  tawdry  and  the  extravagant.  As 
to  their  literature,  there  is  no  poetry,  no  oratory,  no 


42 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


history,  which  is  less  decorated  with  the  flowers  of 
rhetoric : it  is  all  pure  in  design,  chaste  in  detail. 
So  with  their  dress ; so  with  their  dwellings.  We 
cannot  but  feel  that,  had  the  effect  of  painted  temples 
and  statues  been  tawdry,  there  is  no  people  on  earth 
who  would  have  felt  it  so  keenly,  and  disliked  it  so 
much.  There  must,  then,  have  been  strong  reasons 
why  this  bright  coloring  did  not  strike  their  eye  as 
it  would  the  eye  of  sober  moderns. 

To  any  one  who  has  seen  the  country,  and  thought 
about  the  question  there,  many  such  reasons  present 
themselves.  In  the  first  place,  all  through  southern 
Europe,  and  more  especially  in  Greece,  there  is  an 
amount  of  bright  color  in  nature,  which  prevents 
almost  any  artificial  coloring  from  producing  a start- 
ling effect.  Where  all  the  landscape,  the  sea,  and 
the  air  are  exceedingly  bright,  we  find  the  inhab- 
itants increasing  the  brightness  of  their  dress  and 
houses,  as  it  were  to  correspond  with  nature.  Thus, 
in  Italy,  they  paint  their  houses  green,  and  pink, 
and  yellow,  and  so  give  to  their  towns  and  villas 
that  rich  and  warm  effect  which  we  miss  so  keenly 
among  the  gray  and  sooty  streets  of  northern 
Europe.  So  also  in  their  dress,  these  people  wear 
scarlet,  and  white,  and  rich  blue,  not  so  much  in 
patterns  as  in  large  patches,  and  a festival  in  Sicily 
or  Greece  fills  the  streets  with  intense  color.  We 
know  that  the  coloring  of  the  old  Greek  dress  was 
quite  of  the  same  character  as  that  of  the  modern, 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


43 


though  in  design  it  has  completely  changed.  We 
must,  therefore,  imagine  the  old  Greek  crowd  before 
their  temples,  or  in  their  market-places,  a very  white 
crowd,  with  patches  of  scarlet  and  various  blue  ; 
perhaps  altogether  white  in  processions,  if  we  except 
scarlet  shoe-straps  and  other  such  slight  relief.  One 
cannot  but  feel  that  a richly  colored  temple — that 
pillars  of  blue  and  red — that  friezes  of  gilding,  and 
other  ornament,  upon  a white  marble  ground,  and  in 
white  marble  framing,  must  have  been  a splendid 
and  appropriate  background,  a genial  feature,  in 
such  a sky  and  with  such  costume.  We  must  get 
accustomed  to  such  combinations — we  must  dwell 
upon  them  in  imagination,  or  ask  our  good  painters 
to  restore  them  for  us,  and  let  us  look  upon  them 
constantly  and  calmly. 

But  I will  not  seek  to  persuade  ; let  us  merely 
state  the  case  fairly,  and  put  the  reader  in  a position 
to  judge  for  himself.  So  much  for  the  painted 
architecture.  I will  but  add,  the  most  remarkable 
specimen  of  a richly  painted  front  to  which  we  can 
now  appeal  is  also  really  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
in  Europe — the  front  of  S.  Mark’s  at  Venice.  The 
rich  frescoes  and  profuse  gilding  on  this  splendid 
front,  of  which  photographs  give  a very  false  idea, 
should  be  studied  by  all  who  desire  to  judge  fairly 
of  this  side  of  Greek  taste. 

But  I must  say  a word,  before  passing  on,  con- 
cerning the  statues.  No  doubt,  the  painting  of 


44 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


statues,  and  the  use  of  gold  and  ivory  upon  them, 
were  derived  from  a rude  age,  when  no  images 
existed  but  rude  wooden  work — at  first  a mere 
block,  then  roughly  altered  and  reduced  to  shape, 
probably  requiring  some  coloring  to  produce  any 
effect  whatever.  To  a public  accustomed  from 
childhood  to  such  painted,  and  often  richly  dressed 
images,  a pure  white  marble  statue  must  appear 
utterly  cold  and  lifeless.  So  it  does  to  us,  when  we 
have  become  accustomed  to  the  mellow  tints  of  old 
and  even  weather-stained  Greek  statues ; and  it 
should  be  here  noticed  that  this  mellow  skin-surface 
on  antique  statues  is  not  the  mere  result  of  age,  but 
of  an  artificial  process,  whereby  they  burnt  into  the 
surface  a composition  of  wax  and  oil,  which  gave  a 
yellowish  tone  to  the  marble,  as  well  as  also  that 
peculiar  surface  which  so  accurately  represents  the 
texture  of  the  human  skin.  But  if  we  imagine  all 
the  marble  surfaces  and  reliefs  in  the  temple  colored 
for  architectural  richness’  sake,  we  can  feel  even 
more  strongly  how  cold  and  out-of-place  would  be 
a perfectly  colorless  statue  in  the  centre  of  all  this 
pattern. 

I will  go  further,  and  say  we  can  point  out  cases 
where  coloring  greatly  heightens  the  effect  and 
beauty  of  sculpture.  The  first  is  from  the  bronzes 
found  at  Herculaneum,  now  in  the  museum  at 
Naples.  Though  they  are  not  marble,  they  are 
suitable  for  our  purpose,  being  naturally  of  a single 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


45 


dark  brown  hue,  which  is  indeed  even  more  un- 
favorable (we  should  think)  for  such  treatment.  In 
some  of  the  finest  of  these  bronzes — especially  in 
the  two  young  men  starting  for  a race — the  eyeballs 
are  inserted  in  white,  with  iris  and  pupil  colored. 
Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  striking  and  lifelike 
than  the  effect  produced.  There  is  in  the  Varvakion 
at  Athens  a marble  mask,  found  in  the  Temple  of 
iEsculapius  under  the  south  side  of  the  Acropolis, 
probably  an  ex  voto  offered  for  a recovery  from  some 
disease  of  the  eyes.  This  marble  face  also  has  its 
eyes  colored  in  the  most  striking  and  lifelike  way, 
and  is  one  of  the  most  curious  objects  found  in  the 
late  excavations. 

I will  add  one  remarkable  modern  example — the 
monument  at  Florence  to  a young  Indian  prince, 
who  visited  England  and  this  country  some  years 
ago,  and  died  of  fever  during  his  homeward  voyage. 
They  have  set  up  to  him  a richly  colored  and  gilded 
baldachin,  in  the  open  air,  and  in  a quiet,  wooded 
park.  Under  this  covering  is  a life-sized  bust  of 
the  prince,  in  his  richest  state  dress.  The  whole 
bust — the  turban,  the  face,  the  drapery — all  is  col- 
ored to  the  life,  and  the  dress,  of  course,  of  the  most 
gorgeous  variety.  The  turban  is  chiefly  white, 
striped  with  gold,  in  strong  contrast  to  the  mahog- 
any complexion  and  raven  hair  of  the  actual  head ; 
the  robe  is  gold  and  green,  and  covered  with  orna- 
ment. The  general  effect  is,  from  the  very  first 


46 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


moment,  striking  and  beautiful.  The  longer  it  is 
studied,  the  better  it  appears ; and  there  is  hardly  a 
reasonable  spectator  who  will  not  confess  that,  were 
we  to  replace  the  present  bust  with  a copy  of  it  in 
white  marble,  the  beauty  and  harmony  of  the  monu- 
ment would  be  utterly  marred.  To  those  who  have 
the  opportunity  of  visiting  Greece  or  Italy,  I 
strongly  commend  these  specimens  of  colored  build- 
ings and  sculpture.  When  they  have  seen  them, 
they  will  hesitate  to  condemn  what  we  still  hear 
called  the  curiously  bad  taste  of  the  old  Greeks  in 
their  use  of  color  in  the  plastic  arts. 

But  these  archaeological  discussions  are  truly 
ixftokai  Xoyou,  digressions — in  themselves  necessary, 
yet  only  tolerable  if  they  are  not  too  long.  I revert 
to  the  general  state  of  the  antiquities  at  Athens, 
always  reserving  the  Acropolis  for  a special  chapter. 
As  I said,  the  isolated  pillars  of  Hadrian’s  Temple 
of  Zeus,  and  the  so-called  Temple  of  Theseus,  are 
the  only  very  striking  objects.1  There  are,  of 

1 By  the  way,  the  appellation  “Temple  of  Theseus”  is  more 
than  doubtful.  The  building  fronts  towards  the  east.  This  is 
proved  by  the  greater  size  and  more  elaborate  decoration  of  the 
eastern  portal.  It  is  almost  certain,  according  to  an  old  scholion 
on  Pindar,  that  the  temples  of  heroes  like  Theseus  faced  west, 
while  those  only  of  the  Olympian  gods  faced  the  rising  sun.  The 
temple,  therefore,  was  the  temple,  not  of  a hero,  but  of  a god. 
Probably  the  Temple  of  Heracles,  worshipped  as  a god  at  Athens, 
which  is  mentioned  in  the  scholia  of  Aristophanes  as  situated  in 
this  part  of  Athens,  is  to  be  identified  with  the  building  in  ques- 
tion. But  I suppose  for  years  to  come  we  must  be  content  to  abide 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


47 


course,  many  other  buildings,  or  remains  of  build- 
ings. There  is  the  monument  of  Lysicrates — a 
small  and  very  graceful  round  chamber,  adorned 
with  Corinthian  engaged  pillars,  and  with  friezes 
of  the  school  of  Scopas,  and  intended  to  carry  on  its 
summit  the  tripod  Lysicrates  had  gained  in  a musical 
and  dramatic  contest  (334  b.  c.)  at  Athens.  There 
is  the  later  Temple  of  the  Winds,  as  it  is  called — a 
sort  of  public  clock,  with  sundials  and  fine  reliefs 
of  the  Wind- gods  on  its  outward  surfaces,  and  ar- 
rangements for  a water-clock  within.  There  are 
two  portals,  or  gateways — one  leading  into  the  old 
agora,  or  market-place,  the  other  leading  from  old 
Athens  into  the  Athens  of  Hadrian. 

But  all  these  buildings  are  either  miserably  de- 
faced, or  of  such  late  date  and  decayed  taste  as  to 
make  them  unworthy  specimens  of  pure  Greek  art. 
A single  century  ago  there  was  much  to  be  seen  and 
admired  which  has  since  disappeared  5 and  even 
to-day  the  majority  of  the  population  are  careless 
as  to  the  treatment  of  ancient  monuments,  and  some- 
times even  mischievous  in  wantonly  defacing  them. 
Thus,  I saw  the  marble  tombs  of  Ottfried  Muller 
and  Charles  Lenormant — tombs  which,  though  mod- 
ern, were  yet  erected  at  the  cost  of  the  nation  to 
men  who  were  eminent  lovers  and  students  of  Greek 
art — I saw  these  tombs  used  as  common  targets  by 

by  the  old  name  of  Theseon,  which  is  now  too  long  in  general  use 
to  be  easily  disturbed. 


48 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  neighborhood,  and  all  peppered  with  marks  of 
shot  and  of  bullets.  I saw  them,  too,  all  but  blown 
up  by  workmen  blasting  for  building-stones  close 
beside  them.1  I saw,  also,  from  the  Acropolis,  a 
young  gentleman  practising  with  a pistol  at  a piece 
of  old  carved  marble  work  in  the  Theatre  of  Dion- 
ysus. His  object  seemed  to  be  to  chip  off  a piece 
from  the  edge  at  every  shot.  Happily,  on  this  occa- 
sion, our  vantage  ground  enabled  us  to  take  the  law 
into  our  own  hands  ; and  after  in  vain  appealing  to 
a custodian  to  interfere,  we  adopted  the  tactics  of 
Apollo  at  Delphi,  and  by  detaching  stones  from  the 
top  of  our  precipice,  we  put  to  flight  the  wretched 
barbarian  who  had  come  to  ravage  the  treasures  of 
that  most  sacred  place. 

These  unhappy  examples  of  the  defacing  of  archi- 
tectural monuments,2  which  can  hardly  be  removed, 
naturally  suggest  to  the  traveller  in  Greece  the 
kindred  question  how  all  the  smaller  and  movable 
antiquities  that  are  found  should  be  distributed 
so  as  best  to  promote  the  love  and  knowledge  of 
art. 

On  this  point  it  seems  to  me  that  we  have  gone 
to  one  extreme,  and  the  Greeks  to  the  other,  and 

1 I was  since  informed  at  Athens  that  this  complaint  had  not 
been  without  results,  and  that  steps  are  being  taken  to  prevent 
quarrying  at  random  on  classical  sites. 

2 Even  the  marble  statue  set  up  to  the  patriot  Botzari  over  the 
grave  of  the  heroes  of  Missolonghi  was  so  mutilated  by  the  inhab- 
itants that  the  authorities  have  removed  it  from  mere  shame. 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


49 


that  neither  of  us  have  done  our  best  to  make  known 
what  we  acknowledge  ought  to  be  known  as  widely 
as  possible.  The  tendency  in  England,  at  least  of 
later  years,  has  been  to  swallow  up  all  lesser  and  all 
private  collections  in  the  great  national  Museum  in 
London,  which  has  accordingly  become  so  enormous 
and  so  bewildering  that  no  one  can  profit  by  it  ex- 
cept the  trained  specialist,  who  goes  in  with  his  eyes 
shut,  and  will  not  open  them  till  he  has  arrived  at 
the  special  class  of  objects  he  intends  to  examine. 
But  to  the  ordinary  public,  and  even  the  generally 
enlightened  public  (if  such  an  expression  be  not  a 
contradiction  in  terms),  there  is  nothing  so  utterly 
bewildering,  and  therefore  so  unprofitable,  as  a visit 
to  the  myriad  treasures  of  that  great  world  of  curi- 
osities. 

In  the  last  century  many  private  persons — many 
noblemen  of  wealth  and  culture — possessed  re- 
markable collections  of  antiquities.  These  have 
mostly  been  swallowed  up  by  what  is  called  u the 
nation,”  and  new  private  collections  are  very  rare 
indeed. 

In  Greece  the  very  opposite  course  is  being  now 
pursued.  By  a special  law  it  is  forbidden  to  sell  out 
of  the  country,  or  even  to  remove  from  a district, 
any  antiquities  whatever  j and  in  consequence  little 
museums  have  been  established  in  every  village  in 
Greece — nay,  sometimes  even  in  places  where  there 
is  no  village,  in  order  that  every  district  may  pos- 

4 


50 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sess  its  own  riches,  and  become  worth  a visit  from 
the  traveller  and  the  antiquary.  I have  seen  such 
museums  at  Eleusis,  some  fifteen  miles  from  Athens, 
at  Thebes,  now  an  unimportant  town,  at  Livadia,  at 
Chseronea,  at  Argos,  at  Olympia,  and  even  in  the 
wild  plains  of  Orchomenus,  in  a little  chapel,  with 
no  town  within  miles.-  If  I add  to  this  that  most  of 
these  museums  were  mere  dark  outhouses,  only 
lighted  through  the  door,  the  reader  will  have  some 
notion  what  a task  it  would  be  to  visit  and  criticise, 
with  any  attempt  at  completeness,  the  ever-increas- 
ing remnants  of  classical  Greece. 

The  traveller  is  at  first  disposed  to  complain  that 
even  the  portable  antiquities  found  in  various  parts 
of  Greece  are  not  brought  to  Athens,  and  gathered 
into  one  vast  national  museum.  Further  reflection 
shows  such  a proceeding  to  be  not  only  impossible, 
but  highly  inexpedient.  I will  not  speak  of  the 
great  waste  of  objects  of  interest  when  they  are 
brought  together  in  such  vast  masses  that  the  visitor 
is  rather  oppressed  than  enlightened.  Any  one  who 
has  gone  to  the  British  Museum  will  know  what  I 
mean.  Nor  will  I give  the  smallest  weight  to  the 
selfish  local  argument,  that  compelling  visitors  to 


1 It  is  fair  to  add  that  an  exception  has  been  made  for  the  dis- 
coveries at  Mycenae,  which  have  been  almost  all  brought  to 
Athens;  and  that  a handsome  museum  has  now  been  built  at 
Olympia,  and  a good  road  from  Pyrgos,  which  has  a railway  to 
the  sea. 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


51 


wander  from  place  to  place  brings  traffic  and  money 
into  the  country.  Until  proper  roads  and  clean  inns 
are  established,  such  an  argument  is  both  unfair  and 
unlikely  to  produce  results  worth  considering.  But 
fortunately  most  of  the  famous  things  in  Greece  are 
sites,  ruined  buildings,  forts  which  cannot  be  re- 
moved from  their  place,  if  at  all,  without  destruc- 
tion, and  of  which  the  very  details  cannot  be  under- 
stood without  seeing  the  place  for  which  they  were 
intended.  Even  the  Parthenon  sculptures  in  Lon- 
don would  have  lost  most  of  their  interest,  if  the 
building  itself  at  Athens  did  not  show  us  their  appli- 
cation, and  glorify  them  with  its  splendor.  He 
who  sees  the  gold  of  Mycenae  at  Athens,  knows  little 
of  its  meaning,  if  he  has  not  visited  the  giant  forts 
where  its  owners  once  dwelt  and  exercised  their 
sway ; and  if,  as  has  been  done  at  Olympia,  some 
patriotic  Greek  had  built  a safe  museum  at  Mycenae 
to  contain  them,  they  would  be  more  deeply  inter- 
esting and  instructive  than  they  now  are. 

In  such  a town  as  Athens,  on  the  contrary,  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  true  solution  of  the  problem 
has  been  attained,  though  it  will  probably  be  shortly 
abandoned  for  a central  museum.  There  are  (or 
were)  at  Athens  at  least  six  separate  museums  of 
antiquities — one  at  the  University,  one  called  the 
Varvakion,  one  in  the  Theseum,  one,  or  rather  two, 
on  the  Acropolis,  one  in  the  Ministry  of  Public  In- 
struction, and  lastly,  the  new  National  Museum, 


52 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


as  it  is  called,  in  Patissia  Street — devoted  to  its 
special  treasures.  If  these  several  storehouses  were 
thoroughly  kept, — if  the  objects  were  carefully  num- 
bered and  catalogued, — I can  conceive  no  better 
arrangement  for  studying  separately  and  in  detail 
the  various  monuments,  which  must  always  bewilder 
and  fatigue  when  crowded  together  in  one  vast  ex- 
hibition. If  the  British  Museum  were  in  this  way 
severed  into  many  branches,  and  the  different  classes 
of  objects  it  contains  were  placed  in  separate  build- 
ings, and  in  different  parts  of  London,  I believe 
most  of  us  would  acquire  a far  greater  knowledge 
of  what  it  contains,  and  hence  it  would  attain  a 
greater  usefulness  in  educating  the  nation.  To  visit 
any  one  of  the  Athenian  museums  is  a compara- 
tively short  and  easy  task,  where  a man  can  see  the 
end  of  his  labor  before  him,  and  hence  will  not  hesi- 
tate to  delay  long  over  such  things  as  are  worth  a 
careful  study. 

It  may  be  said  that  all  this  digression  about  the 
mere  placing  of  monuments  is  delaying  the  reader 
too  long  from  what  he  desires  to  know — something 
about  the  monuments  themselves.  But  this  little 
book,  to  copy  an  expression  of  Herodotus,  particu- 
larly affects  digressions.  I desire  to  wander  through 
the  subject  exactly  in  the  way  which  naturally  sug- 
gests itself  to  me.  After  all,  the  reflections  on  a 
journey  ought  to  be  more  valuable  than  its  mere 
description. 


ATHENS  AND  ATTICA. 


53 


Before  passing  into  Attica  and  leaving  Athens, 
something  more  must,  of  course,  be  said  of  the  mu- 
seums, then  of  the  newer  diggings,  and  especially 
of  the  splendid  tombs  found  in  the  Kerameikus. 
We  will  then  mount  the  Acropolis,  and  wander  leis- 
urely about  its  marvellous  ruins.  From  it  we  can 
look  out  upon  the  general  shape  and  disposition  of 
Attica,  and  plan  our  shorter  excursions. 

As  some  of  the  suggestions  in  my  first  edition 
have  found  favor  at  Athens,  I venture  to  point  out 
here  the  great  benefit  which  the  Greek  archaeologists 
would  confer  on  all  Europe  if  they  would  publish  an 
official  guide  to  Athens,  with  some  moderately  com- 
plete account  of  the  immense  riches  of  its  museums. 
Such  a book,  which  might  appear  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  M.  Bousopoulos,  or  Professor  Koumanoudis, 
might  be  promoted  either  by  the  Greek  Parliament 
or  the  University  of  Athens.  Were  it  even  pub- 
lished in  modern  Greek,  its  sale  must  be  large  and 
certain ; and,  by  appendices,  or  new  editions,  it 
could  be  kept  up  to  the  level  of  the  new  discoveries. 
The  catalogues  of  Kekule  and  of  Heydemann  are 
already  wholly  inadequate,  and  unless  one  has  the 
privilege  of  knowing  personally  one  of  the  gentle- 
men above  named,  it  is  very  difficult  indeed  to 
obtain  any  proper  notion  of  the  history,  or  of  the 
original  sites,  of  the  various  objects  which  excite 
curiosity  or  admiration  at  every  step.  Such  a book 
as  I suggest  would  be  hailed  by  every  Hellenist  in 


54 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Europe  as  an  inestimable  boon.  But  in  a land 
where  the  able  men  are  perpetually  engaged  in  mak- 
ing or  observing  new  discoveries,  they  will  naturally 
despise  the  task  of  cataloguing  what  they  know. 
Hence,  I suggest  that  some  promising  young  scholar 
might  undertake  the  book,  and  have  his  work  re- 
vised by  his  masters  in  the  sober  and  practical 
school  of  Athens.1 

1 Since  this  was  written  there  have  been  published  (in  German) 
two  careful  catalogues  of  the  sculptures  of  Athens  by  V.  Sybel  and 
by  Milchhofer  (1881),  and  there  is  besides  the  excellent  Hand- 
book for  Greece  by  Dr.  Lolling  (Baedeker).  The  new  edition  of 
Murray’s  Handbook  is  very  dear  and  not  very  satisfactory.  There 
is  a small  Greek  Catalogue  published  by  Stanford,  translated  by 
Miss  Agnes  Smith.  The  Mycenaean  antiquities  are  described  in  a 
separate  book  by  Scliliemann,  and  by  Schuchhardt. 


CHAPTER  III. 


ATHENS — THE  MUSEUMS — THE  TOMBS. 

Nothing  is  more  melancholy  and  more  disappoint- 
ing than  the  first  view  of  the  Athenian  museums. 
Almost  every  traveller  sees  them  after  passing 
through  Italy,  where  everything — indeed  far  too 
much — has  been  done  to  make  the  relics  of  antiquity 
perfect  and  complete.  Missing  noses,  and  arms,  and 
feet  have  been  restored ; probable  or  possible  names 
have  been  assigned  to  every  statue ; they  are  set  up, 
generally,  in  handsome  galleries,  with  suitable  deco- 
ration ; the  visitor  is  provided  with  full  descriptive 
catalogues.  Nothing  of  all  this  is  found  in  Greece. 
The  fragments  are  merely  sorted : many  of  the 
mutilated  statues  are  lying  prostrate,  And,  of  course, 
in  no  way  restored.  Everything  is,  however,  in  proc- 
ess of  being  arranged.  But  there  is  room  to  appre- 
hend that  in  fifty  years  things  will  still  be  found 
changing  their  places,  and  still  in  process  of  being 
arranged.  It  is  not  fair  to  complain  of  these  things 
in  a nation  which  is  fully  occupied  with  its  political 
and  commercial  development,  and  where  new  class- 
ical remains  are  constantly  added  to  the  museums. 
Every  nerve  is  being  strained  by  the  Greeks  to  obtain 

55 


56 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


their  proper  rights  in  the  possible  break-up  of  the 
Ottoman  Empire.  Great  efforts  are,  besides,  being 
made  to  develop  not  only  the  ports,  but  the  manu- 
factures of  the  country.  The  building  of  new  roads 
is  more  vital  to  the  nation  than  the  saving  and  order- 
ing of  artistic  remains.  Thus  we  must  trust  to 
private  enterprise  and  generosity  to  settle  these 
things ; and  these  have  hitherto  not  been  wanting 
among  the  Greeks.  But  their  resources  are  small, 
and  they  require  help  both  in  money  and  in  sym- 
pathy. So,  then,  unless  foreign  influences  be  con- 
tinuously brought  to  bear, — all  the  foreign  schools 
act  unselfishly  at  their  own  expense, — I fear  that 
all  of  us  who  visit  Athens  will  be  doomed  to  that 
first  feeling  of  disappointment. 

But  I am  bound  to  add  that  every  patient  observer 
who  sets  to  work  in  spite  of  his  disappointment,  and 
examines  with  honest  care  these  u disjecta  membra  ” 
of  Attic  art — any  one  who  will  replace  in  imagin- 
ation the  tips  of  noses — any  one  who  will  stoop  over 
lying  statues,  and  guess  at  the  context  of  broken 
limbs — such  an  observer  will  find  his  vexation  grad- 
ually changing  into  wonder,  and  will  at  last  come  to 
see  that  all  the  smoothly-restored  Greek  work  in 
Italian  museums  is  not  worth  a tithe  of  the  shattered 
fragments  in  the  real  home  and  citadel  of  pure  art. 
This  is  especially  true  of  the  museum  on  the  Acrop- 
olis. It  is,  however,  also  true  of  the  other 
museums,  and  more  obviously  true  of  the  reliefs 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


57 


upon  the  tombs.  The  assistance  of  an  experienced 
Athenian  antiquary  is  also  required,  who  knows  his 
way  among  the  fragments,  and  who  can  tell  the 
history  of  the  discovery,  and  the  theories  of  the 
purport  of  each.  There  are  a good  many  men  of 
ability  and  learning  connected  with  the  University 
of  Athens,  who  describe  each  object  in  the  anti- 
quarian papers  as  it  is  discovered.  But  when  I 
asked  whether  I could  buy  or  subscribe  to  any 
recognized  organ  for  such  information,  I was  told 
(as  I might  have  expected)  that  no  single  paper  or 
periodical  was  so  recognized.  Clashing  interests  and 
personal  friendships  determine  where  each  discovery 
is  to  be  announced ; so  that  often  the  professedly 
arch  geological  journals  contain  no  mention  of  such 
things,  while  the  common  daily  papers  secure  the 
information. 

Here,  again,  we  feel  the  want  of  some  stronger 
government — some  despotic  assertion  of  a law  of 
gravitation  to  a common  centre — to  counteract  the 
strong  centrifugal  forces  acting  all  through  Greek 
society.  The  old  autonomy  of  the  Greeks — that  old 
assertion  of  local  independence  which  was  at  once 
their  greatness  and  their  ruin — this  strong  instinct 
has  lasted  undiminished  to  the  present  day.  They 
seem  even  now  to  hate  pulling  together,  as  we  say. 
They  seem  always  ready  to  assert  their  individual 
rights  and  claims  against  those  of  the  community 
or  the  public.  The  old  Greeks  had  as  a safeguard 


58 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


their  divisions  into  little  cities  and  territories ; so 
that  their  passion  for  autonomy  was  expended  on 
their  city  interests,  in  which  the  individual  could 
forget  himself.  But  as  the  old  Greeks  were  often 
too  selfish  for  this,  and  asserted  their  personal 
autonomy  against  their  own  city,  so  the  modern 
Greek,  who  has  not  this  safety-valve,  finds  it  difficult 
to  rise  to  the  height  of  acting  in  the  interests  of  the 
nation  at  large ; and  though  he  converses  much  and 
brilliantly  about  Hellenic  unity,  he  generally  allows 
smaller  interests  to  outweigh  this  splendid  general 
conception.  I will  here  add  a most  annoying  ex- 
ample of  this  particularist  feeling,  which  obtrudes 
itself  upon  every  visitor  to  Athens.  The  most  trying 
thing  in  the  streets  is  the  want  of  shade,  and  the 
consequent  glare  of  the  houses  and  roadway.  Yet 
along  every  street  there  are  planted  pepper-trees  of 
graceful  growth  and  of  delicious  scent.  But  why 
are  they  all  so  wretchedly  small  and  bare  ? Because 
each  inhabitant  chooses  to  hack  away  the  growing 
branches  in  front  of  his  own  door.  The  Prime 
Minister,  who  deplored  this  curious  Vandalism,  said 
he  was  powerless  to  check  it.  Until,  however,  the 
Athenians  learn  to  control  themselves,  and  let  their 
trees  grow,  Athens  will  be  an  ugly  and  disagreeable 
city. 

So,  then,  the  Greeks  will  not  even  agree  to  tell 
us  where  we  may  find  a complete  list  of  newly-dis- 
covered antiquities.  Nor,  indeed,  does  the  Athenian 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


59 


public  care  very  much,  beyond  a certain  vague 
pride,  for  such  things,  if  we  except  one  peculiar 
kind,  which  has  taken  among  them  somewhat  the 
place  of  old  china  among  us.  There  have  been 
found  in  many  Greek  cemeteries — in  Megara,  in  Cy- 
rene,  and  of  late  in  great  abundance  and  excellence 
at  Tanagra,  in  Boeotia — little  figures  of  terra  cotta, 
often  delicately  modelled  and  richly  colored  both  in 
dress  and  limbs.  These  figures  are  ordinarily  from 
eight  to  twelve  inches  high,  and  represent  ladies 
both  sitting  and  standing  in  graceful  attitudes,  young 
men  in  pastoral  life,  and  other  such  subjects.  I was 
informed  that  some  had  been  found  in  various  places 
through  Greece,  but  the  main  source  of  them — and 
a very  rich  source — is  the  Necropolis  at  Tanagra. 
There  are  several  collections  of  these  figures  on  cup- 
boards and  in  cabinets  in  private  houses  at  Athens, 
all  remarkable  for  the  marvellous  modernness  of 
their  appearance.  The  graceful  drapery  of  the 
ladies  especially  is  very  like  modern  dress,  and 
many  have  on  their  heads  flat  round  hats,  quite 
similar  in  design  to  the  gipsy  hats  much  worn  among 
ladies  of  late  years.  But  above  all,  the  hair  was 
drawn  back  from  the  forehead,  not  at  all  in  what  is 
considered  Greek  style,  but  rather  a l Eugenie , as 
we  used  to  say  when  we  were  young.  Many  hold 
in  their  hands  large  fans,  like  those  which  we  make 
of  peacocks7  feathers.  No  conclusive  theory  has 
yet  been  started,  so  far  as  I know,  concerning  the 


60 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


object  or  intention  of  these  figures.  So  many  of 
them  are  female  figures,  that  it  seems  unlikely  they 
were  portraits  of  the  deceased ; and  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  two  figures  together,  especially  one 
woman  being  carried  by  another,  seems  almost  to 
dissuade  us  from  such  a theory.  They  seem  to  be 
the  figures  called  ho  pat  by  many  old  Greeks,  which 
were  used  as  toys  by  children,  and,  perhaps,  as 
ornaments.  The  large  class  of  tradesmen  who  made 
them  were  called  KopoTrXaOot , and  were  held  in  con- 
tempt by  real  sculptors.  Most  of  them  are,  indeed, 
badly  modelled,  and  evidently  the  work  of  ignorant 
tradesmen.  If  it  could  be  shown  that  they  were 
only  found  in  the  graves  of  children,  it  would  be  a 
touching  sign  of  that  world-wide  feeling  among  the 
human  race,  to  bury  with  the  dead  friend  whatever 
he  loved  and  enjoyed  in  his  life  on  earth,  that  he 
might  not  feel  lonely  in  his  cold  and  gloomy  grave.1 
But  it  seems  unlikely  that  this  limitation  can  ever 
be  proved. 

There  is  an  equal  difficulty  as  to  their  age.  The 

1 There  is  no  more  pathetic  instance  than  that  described  by  Mr. 
Squier  (in  his  admirable  work  on  Peru)  of  the  tomb  of  a young 
girl  which  he  himself  discovered,  and  where  he  comments  on  the 
various  objects  laid  to  rest  with  the  dead:  cf.  Squier’ s Peru,  p.  80. 
There  has  since  been  found  at  Myrina,  on  the  Asiatic  coast,  a 
great  store  of  these  clay  figures,  also  in  tombs.  Some  sets  of  them 
were  made  to  represent  the  sculptures  of  a pediment,  such  as  that 
of  the  Parthenon,  or  rather  of  the  east  front  of  the  temple  of 
Olympia. 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


61 


Greeks  say  that  the  tombs  in  which  they  are  found 
are  not  later  than  the  second  century  B.  c.,  and  it  is, 
indeed,  hard  to  conceive  at  what  later  period  there 
was  enough  wealth  and  art  to  produce  such  often 
elegant,  and  often  costly,  results.  Tanagra  and 
Thespise  were,  indeed,  in  Strabo’s  day  (lib.  ix.  2)  the 
only  remaining  cities  of  Boeotia  j the  rest,  he  says, 
were  but  ruins  and  names.  But  we  may  be  certain 
that  in  that  time  of  universal  decay  the  remaining 
towns  must  have  been  as  poor  and  insignificant  as 
they  now  are.  Thus,  we  seem  thrown  back  into 
classical  or  Alexandrian  days  for  the  origin  of  these 
figures,  which  in  their  bright  coloring — pink  and 
blue  dresses,  often  gilded  fringes,  the  hair  always 
fair,  so  far  as  I could  find — are,  indeed,  like  what 
we  know  of  old  Greek  statuary,  but  in  other  respects 
surprisingly  modern.1  If  their  antiquity  can  be 
strictly  demonstrated,  it  will  but  show  another  case 
of  the  versatility  of  the  Greeks  in  all  things  relating 
to  art:  how,  with  the  simplest  material,  and  at  a 
long  distance  from  the  great  art  centres,  they  pro- 
duced a type  of  exceeding  grace  and  refinement 
totally  foreign  to  their  great  old  models,  varying  in 
dress,  attitude — in  every  point  of  style — from  ordi- 
nary Greek  sculpture,  and  anticipating  much  of  the 
modern  ideals  of  beauty  and  elegance. 

1 If  I mistake  not,  Mr.  A.  S.  Murray  seems  disposed  to  date 
them  about  the  first  century  either  b.  c.  or  a.  d.,  thus  bringing 
them  down  to  about  the  time  of  Strabo. 


62 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


But  it  is  necessary  to  suspend  our  judgment,  and 
wait  for  further  and  closer  investigation.  The 
workmen  at  Tanagra  are  now  forbidden  to  sell  these 
objects  to  private  fanciers ; and  in  consequence, 
their  price  has  risen  so  enormously,  that  those  in  the 
market,  if  of  real  elegance  and  artistic  merit,  can- 
not be  obtained  for  less  than  from  £40  to  £60.  As 
much  as  2000  francs  has  been  paid  for  one,  when 
they  were  less  common.  From  this  price  downward 
they  can  still  be  bought  in  Athens,  the  rude  and 
badly  finished  specimens  being  cheap  enough.  The 
only  other  method  of  procuring  them,  or  of  procur- 
ing them  more  cheaply,  is  to  make  diligent  inquiries 
when  travelling  in  the  interior,  where  they  may 
often  be  bought  from  poor  people,  either  at  Megara, 
Tanagra,  or  elsewhere,  who  have  chanced  to  find 
them,  and  are  willing  enough  to  part  with  them  after 
a certain  amount  of  bargaining. 

It  is  convenient  to  dispose  of  this  peculiar  and 
distinct  kind  of  Greek  antiquities,  because  they 
seem  foreign  to  the  rest,  and  cannot  be  brought 
under  any  other  head.  These  figurines  have  now 
found  their  way  into  most  European  museums.1 

I pass  to  the  public  collections  at  Athens,  in 
which  we  find  few  of  these  figures,  and  which 


1 There  is  already  quite  a large  collection  of  them  in  the  Brit- 
ish Museum,  e.  g.  Vase  Room  I.,  case  35,  where  there  are  many 
of  these  figures  from  Tanagra.  In  Room  II.  there  is  a whole  case 
of  them,  chiefly  from  Gyrene,  and  from  Cnidus. 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


63 


rather  contain  the  usual  products  of  Greek  plastic 
art — statues,  reliefs,  as  well  as  pottery,  and  inscrip- 
tions. As  I have  said,  the  statues  are  in  the  most 
lamentable  condition,  shattered  into  fragments,  with- 
out any  attempt  at  restoring  even  such  losses  as  can 
be  supplied  with  certainty.  What  mischief  might 
be  done  by  such  wholesale  restoration  as  was  prac- 
tised in  Italy  some  fifty  years  ago,  it  is  hard  to  say. 
But  perhaps  the  reaction  against  that  error  has 
driven  us  to  an  opposite  extreme. 

There  is,  indeed,  one — a naked  athlete,  with  his 
cloak  hanging  over  the  left  shoulder,  and  coiled 
round  the  left  forearm — which  seems  almost  as  good 
as  any  strong  male  figure  which  we  now  possess. 
While  it  has  almost  exactly  the  same  treatment  of 
the  cloak  on  the  left  arm  which  we  see  in  the  cele- 
brated Hermes  of  the  Vatican,1  the  proportions  of 
the  figure  are  nearer  the  celebrated  Discobolus  (num- 
bered 126,  Braccio  Nuovo).  There  are  two  other 
copies  at  Florence,  and  one  at  Naples.  These  repe- 
titions point  to  some  very  celebrated  original,  which 
the  critics  consider  to  be  of  the  older  school  of  Poly- 
cletus,  and  even  imagine  may  possibly  be  a copy  of 
his  Doryphorus , which  was  called  the  Canon  statue, 
or  model  of  the  perfect  manly  form.  The  Hermes 
has  too  strong  a likeness  to  Lysippus’s  Apoxyomenos 
not  to  be  recognized  as  of  the  newer  school.  What 

1 No.  53,  Mus.  Pio  Clem.,  in  a small  room  beside  the  Apollo  Bel- 
vedere and  Laocoon. 


64 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


we  have,  then,  in  this  Attic  statue  seems  an  inter- 
mediate type  between  the  earlier  and  stronger  school 
of  Polycletus  and  the  more  elegant  and  newer  school 
of  Lysippus  in  Alexander’s  day. 

There  can,  however,  be  no  doubt  that  it  does  not 
date  from  the  older  and  severer  age  of  sculpture,  of 
which  Phidias  and  Polycletus  were  the  highest  rep- 
resentatives. Any  one  who  studies  Greek  art  per- 
ceives how  remarkably  not  only  the  style  of  dress 
and  ornament,  but  even  the  proportions  of  the  figure 
change,  as  we  come  down  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion in  the  long  line  of  Greek  sculptors.  The 
friezes  of  Selinus  (now  at  Palermo),  and  those  of 
iEgina  (now  in  Munich),  which  are  among  our  ear- 
liest classical  specimens,  are  remarkable  for  short, 
thick-set  forms.  The  men  are  men  five  feet  seven, 
or,  at  most,  eight  inches  high,  and  their  figures  are 
squat  even  for  that  height.  In  the  specimens  we 
have  of  the  days  of  Phidias  and  Polycletus  these 
proportions  are  altered.  The  head  of  the  Dorypho- 
ruSj  if  we  can  depend  upon  our  supposed  copies, 
is  still  heavy,  and  the  figure  bulky,  though  taller 
in  proportion.  He  looks  a man  of  five  feet  ten 
inches  at  least.  The  statue  we  are  just  considering 
is  even  taller,  and  is  like  the  copies  we  have  of 
Lysippus’s  work,  the  figure  apparently  of  a man 
of  six  feet  high ; but  his  head  is  not  so  small,  nor 
is  he  so  slender  and  light  as  this  type  is  usually 
found. 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS.  65 

It  is  not  very  easy  to  give  a full  account  of  this 
change.  There  is,  of  course,  one  general  reason 
well  known — the  art  of  the  Greeks,  like  almost  all 
such  developments,  went  through  stiffness  and  clum- 
siness into  dignity  and  strength,  to  which  it  pres- 
ently added  that  grace  which  raises  strength  into 
majesty.  But  in  time  the  seeking  after  grace  be- 
comes too  prominent,  and  so  strength,  and  with  it, 
of  course,  the  majesty  which  requires  strength  as 
well  as  grace,  is  gradually  lost.  Thus  we  arrive 
at  a period  when  the  forms  are  merely  elegant  or 
voluptuous,  without  any  assertion  of  power.  I will 
speak  of  a similar  development  among  female  fig- 
ures in  connection  with  another  subject  which  will 
naturally  suggest  it. 

This  can  only  be  made  plain  by  a series  of  illus- 
trations. Of  course,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
really  archaic  statues  was  very  great.1  They  were 
mostly  sacred  images  of  the  gods,  esteemed  vener- 
able and  interesting  by  the  Greeks,  but  seldom 
copied.  Happily,  the  Romans,  when  they  set 
themselves  to  admire  and  procure  Greek  statues, 
had  fits  of  what  we  now  call  pre-Raphaelitism — fits 
of  admiration  for  the  archaic  and  devout,  even  if 
ungraceful,  in  preference  to  the  more  perfect  forms 
of  later  art.  Hence,  we  find  in  Italy  a number  of 

1 There  is  now  an  excellent  publication  of  the  archaic  statues 
found  in  the  Acropolis,  by  Cavvadias  (Wilberg,  Athens). 


5 


66 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


statues  which,  if  not  really  archaic,  are  at  least 
archaistic , as  the  critics  call  it — imitations  or  copies 
of  archaic  statues.  With  these  we  need  now  no 
longer  be  content.  And  we  may  pause  a moment 
on  the  question  of  archaic  Greek  art,  because,  apart 
from  the  imitations  of  the  time  of  Augustus  and 
Hadrian,  we  had  already  some  really  genuine  frag- 
ments in  the  little  museum  in  the  Acropolis — frag- 
ments saved,  not  from  the  present  Parthenon,  but 
rather  from  about  the  ruins  of  the  older  Parthenon. 
This  temple  was  destroyed  by  the  Persians,  and  the 
materials  were  built  into  the  surrounding  wall  of 
the  Acropolis  by  the  Athenians,  when  they  began  to 
strengthen  and  beautify  it  at  the  opening  of  their 
career  of  dominion  and  wealth.  The  stains  of  fire 
are  said  to  be  still  visible  on  these  drums  of  pillars 
now  built  into  the  fortification,  and  there  can  be  no 
doubt  of  their  belonging  to  the  old  temple,  as  it  is 
well  attested.1  But  I do  not  agree  with  the  state- 
ment that  these  older  materials  were  so  used  in  order 
to  nurse  a perpetual  hatred  against  the  Persians  in 
the  minds  of  the  people,  who  saw  daily  before  them 
the  evidence  of  the  ancient  wrong  done  to  their 
temples.2  I believe  this  sentimental  twaddle  to  be 

1 I endeavored  to  examine  these  drums  by  looking  down  through 
a hole  in  the  wall  over  them.  They  seemed  to  me  not  fluted,  and 
rather  of  the  shape  of  barrels,  very  thick  in  the  middle,  than  of 
the  drums  of  pillars  in  temples. 

2 It  is  asserted  somewhere  by  a Greek  author  that  the  temples 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


67 


quite  foreign  to  all  Greek  feeling.  The  materials 
were  used  in  the  wall  because  they  were  unsuitable 
for  the  newer  temples,  and  because  they  must  other- 
wise be  greatly  in  the  way  on  the  limited  surface  of 
the  Acropolis. 

A fair  specimen  of  the  old  sculptures  first  found 
is  a very  stiff,  and,  to  us,  comical  figure,  which 
has  lost  its  legs,  but  is  otherwise  fairly  preserved, 
and  which  depicts  a male  figure  with  curious  con- 
ventional hair,  and  still  more  conventional  beard, 
holding  by  its  four  legs  a bull  or  calf,  which  he  is 
carrying  on  his  shoulders.  The  eyes  are  now  hollow, 
and  were  evidently  once  filled  with  something  differ- 
ent from  the  marble  of  which  the  statue  is  made. 
The  whole  pose  and  style  of  the  work  is  stiff  and 
expressionless,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  character- 
istic remains  of  the  older  Attic  art  still  in  exist- 
ence. 

Happily  there  is  little  doubt  what  the  statue  means. 
It  is  the  votive  offering  of  the  Marathonians,  which 
Pausanias  saw  in  the  Acropolis,  and  which  commem- 
orated the  legend  of  Theseus  having  driven  the  wild 

burned  by  the  Persians  were  left  in  mins  to  remind  the  people  of 
the  wrongs  of  the  hated  barbarians.  But  we  have  distinct  evi- 
dence, in  some  cases,  that  this  assertion  is  not  true,  and  besides, 
using  the  materials  for  other  purposes  is  not  the  same  thing.  We 
now  know  that  a quantity  of  mutilated  statues  were  shot  as  rubbish 
into  the  space  between  the  old  Parthenon  and  the  wall,  to  make  a 
terrace  for  the  newer  and  greater  building.  Here  they  were  found 
in  the  recent  excavations. 


68 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


bull,  sent  against  them  by  Minos,  from  Marathon  to 
the  Acropolis,  where  he  sacrificed  it.  Pausanias 
does  not  say  how  Theseus  was  represented  with  the 
bull ; but  it  certainly  was  not  a group — such  a thing 
is  clearly  beyond  the  narrow  and  timid  conceptions 
of  the  artists  of  that  day.  It  being  difficult  to  rep- 
resent this  hero  and  bull  together  except  by  repre- 
senting the  man  carrying  the  bull,  the  artist  has 
made  the  animal  full  grown  in  type,  but  as  small  as 
a calf,  and  has,  of  course,  not  attempted  any  expres- 
sion of  hostility  between  the  two.  The  peaceful 
look,  which  merely  arises  from  the  inability  of  the 
artist  to  render  expression,  has  led  many  good  art 
critics  to  call  it  not  a Theseus  but  a Hermes.  Such 
being  the  obscure  history  of  the  statue,  it  is  not 
difficult  to  note  its  characteristics.  We  see  the  con- 
ventional treatment  of  the  hair,  the  curious  trans- 
parent garments  lying  close  to  the  skin,  and  the  very 
heavy  muscular  forms  of  the  arms  and  body.  The 
whole  figure  is  stiff  and  expressionless,  and  strictly 
in  what  is  called  the  hieratic  or  old  religious  style, 
as  opposed  to  an  ideal  or  artistic  conception. 

There  are  two  full-length  reliefs — one  which  I 
first  saw  in  a little  church  near  Orchomenus,  and  a 
couple  more  at  Athens  in  the  Theseon — which  are 
plainly  of  the  same  epoch  and  style  of  art.  The 
most  complete  Athenian  one  is  ascribed  as  the 
stele  of  Aristion,  and  as  the  work  of  Aristocles,1 

1 Aristion  is  also  mentioned  among  the  artists  of  the  period. 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


69 


doubtless  an  artist  known  as  contemporary  with  those 
who  fought  at  the  battle  of  Marathon.  Thus  we 
obtain  a very  good  clue  to  the  date  at  which  this 
art  flourished.  There  is  also  the  head  of  a similar 
figure,  with  the  hair  long  and  fastened  in  a knot 
behind,  and  with  a discus  raised  above  the  shoulder, 
so  as  to  look  like  a nimbus  round  the  head,  which  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  objects  in  the  Varvakion. 
But  of  the  rest  the  pedestal  only  is  preserved.  Any 
impartial  observer  will  see  in  these  figures  strong 
traces  of  the  influence  of  Asiatic  style.  This  influ- 
ence seems  about  as  certain,  and  almost  as  much 
disputed,  as  the  Egyptian  influences  on  the  Doric 
style  of  architecture.  To  an  unbiassed  observer 
these  influences  speak  so  plainly,  that,  in  the  absence 
of  strict  demonstration  to  the  contrary,  one  feels 
bound  to  admit  them — the  more  so,  as  we  know  that 
the  Greeks,  like  all  other  people  of  genius,  were 
ever  ready  and  anxious  to  borrow  from  others.  It 
should  be  often  repeated,  because  it  is  usually  ignored, 
that  it  is  a most  original  gift  to  know  how  to  borrow  ; 
and  that  those  only  who  feel  wanting  in  originality 
are  anxious  to  assert  it.  Thus  the  Romans,  who 
borrowed  without  assimilating,  are  always  asserting 
their  originality ; the  Greeks,  who  borrowed  more 
and  better,  because  they  made  what  they  borrowed 
their  own,  never  care  to  do  so.  The  hackneyed 
parallel  of  Shakespeare  will  occur  to  all. 

Unfortunately,  the  museums  of  Athens  show  us 


70 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


but  few  examples  of  the  transition  state  of  art 
between  this  and  the  perfect  work  of  Phidias’s 
school.  The  iEginetan  marbles  are  less  developed 
than  Phidias’s  work ; but  from  the  relief  of  Aristion, 
and  the  Theseus  of  the  Acropolis,  to  these,  is  a wide 
gulf  in  artistic  feeling.  The  former  is  the  work  of 
children  shackled  by  their  material,  still  more  by 
conventional  rules ; the  latter  the  work  of  men. 
There  is  also  the  well-known  Apollo  of  Thera ; 
a similar  Apollo  found  at  Athens,  with  very  conven- 
tional curls,  and  now  in  the  National  Museum ; and 
two  or  three  small  sitting  statues  of  Athene  which, 
though  very  archaic,  begin  to  approach  the  grace  of 
artistic  sculpture.  But  Italy  is  sufficiently  rich  in 
imitations  of  this  very  period.  There  are  four  very 
remarkable  statues  in  a small  room  of  the  Villa 
Albani,  near  Rome,  which  are  not  photographed, 
because  the  public  would,  doubtless,  think  them 
bad  art,  but  which,  could  I procure  copies  and 
reproduce  them,  would  illustrate  clearly  what  I 
desire.  We  have  also  among  the  bronzes  found 
at  Pompeii  statues  precisely  of  this  style,  evidently 
copies  from  old  Greek  originals,  and  made  to  satisfy 
the  pre-Raphaelitism  (as  I have  already  called  it) 
of  Italian  amateurs.  I select  a bronze  Artemis  as 
an  interesting  example  of  this  antiquarian  taste  in 
a later  age.  The  statuette  maintains  in  the  face 
the  very  features  which  we  think  so  comical  when 
looking  at  the  relief  of  Aristion,  or  the  women 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


71 


of  the  Acropolis.  They  are,  no  doubt,  softened  and 
less  exaggerated,  but  still  they  are  there.  The  so- 
called  Greek  profile  is  not  yet  attained.  The  gen- 
eral features  of  the  old  Greek  face  in  monuments 
were  a retreating  forehead,  a peaked  nose,  slightly 
turned  up  at  the  end,  the  mouth  drawn  in,  and  the 
corners  turned  up,  flat  elongated  eyes  (especially 
full  in  the  profiles  of  reliefs),  a prominent  angular 
chin,  lank  cheeks,  and  high  ears.  These  lovely 
features  can  be  found  on  hundreds  of  vases,  because, 
vase-making  being  rather  a trade  than  an  art,  men 
kept  close  to  the  old  models  long  after  great  sculp- 
tors and  painters  had,  like  Polygnotus,  begun  to 
depart  from  the  antique  stiffness  of  the  countenance.1 
The  Artemis  in  question  has,  however,  these  very 
features,  which  are  very  clear  when  we  can  see  her 
in  profile.  But  the  head-dress  and  draping  are 
elaborate,  and  though  formal  and  somewhat  rigid, 
not  wanting  in  grace.  The  pose  of  the  arms  is 
stiff,  and  the  attitude  that  of  a woman  stepping 
forward,  which  is  very  usual  in  archaic  figures — 
I suppose  because  it  enlarged  the  base  of  the  statue, 
and  made  it  stand  more  firmly  in  its  place.  The 
absence  of  any  girdle  or  delaying  fold  in  the 
garments  is  one  of  the  most  marked  contrasts  with 
the  later  draping  of  such  figures. 

But  now  at  last  we  can  show  the  reader  how  far 
the  antiquarians  of  later  days  were  able  to  imitate 
1 “ Vultum  ab  antiquo  rigore  variare.” — Plin.  xxxv.  35. 


72 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


archaic  sculpture.  Another  characteristic  archaic 
statue  was  one  of  the  seventeen  found  in  1885-86  on 
the  Acropolis/  where  they  had  been  piled  together 
with  portions  of  pillars  and  other  stones  to  extend  the 
platform  for  new  buildings.  The  style  and  the  mutil- 
ation of  all  these  statues,  which,  from  their  uniform 
type,  are  more  probably  votive  offerings  than  sacred 
images,  point  to  their  being  the  actual  statues  which 
the  Persians  overthrew  when  ravaging  the  Acropolis 
(480  b.  c.).  They  were  so  broken  and  spoiled  that 
the  Athenians,  when  restoring  and  rebuilding  their 
temples,  determined  to  use  them  for  rubbish.  Thus 
we  have  now  a perfectly  authentic  group  of  works 
showing  us  the  art  of  the  older  Athens  before  the  Per- 
sian Wars.  They  are  each  made  of  several  pieces 
of  marble,  apparently  Parian,  dowelled  together  like 
wooden  work,  and  the  figure  here  reproduced  has  a 
bronze  pin  protruding  from  the  head,  apparently  to 
hold  a nimbus  or  covering  of  metal.  They  were  all 
richly  colored,  as  many  traces  upon  them  still  show.2 

1 They  have  been  published  in  the  first  part  of  an  excellent  work 
on  the  treasures  of  Athens,  reproduced  in  phototype  by  Rhomai'des 
Brothers,  with  an  explanatory  text  by  various  Athenian  scholars. 

2 I cannot  do  better  than  quote  the  admirable  description  of  M. 
Ch.  Diehl : “ C’  etaient  surtout  de  nouvelles  statues  de  jeunes  femmes, 
au  mysterieux  sourire,  a la  parure  etincelante,  de  ces  idoles  fardees 
et  peintes,  bien  faites,  par  leur  saveur  etrange,  pour  tenter  le  pinceau 
d’un  Gustave  Moreau  ou  la  plume  d’un  Pierre  Loti.  Comme  leurs 
soeurs,  ces  nouvelles  venues  ont  la  menie  attitude  et  le  meme 
costume,  les  memes  coquetteries  de  parure,  le  meme  soin  de  leur 
chevelure,  la  meme  expression  aussi ; pourtant  a la  s4rie  d6ja 


ATHENS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


73 


Let  us  now  leave  this  archaic  art  and  go  to  the 
street  of  tombs,  where  we  can  find  such  specimens 
as  the  world  can  hardly  equal,  and  in  such  condition 

connue  elles  ont  ajoute  quelques  oeuvres  exquises,  et  trois  d’entre 
elles  en  particulier  meritent  d’etre  signalees.  L’une  est  une 
merveille  de  colons  ; sa  tunique  a large  bande  rouge,  sa  chemisette 
d’  un  vert  fonce,  bordee  de  pourpre,  son  manteau  orne  de  meandres 
du  dessin  le  plus  fin,  ses  vetements  parsemes  de  croix  rouges  ou 
vertes,  qui  se  retrouvent  sur  le  diademe  de  ses  cheveux,  sont  d’  un 
incomparable  eclat.  Sous  les  tons  chauds  de  ces  riches  couleurs 
disposees  avec  un  gout  exquis,  il  semble  que  le  marbre  s’anime  et 
fasse  la  chair  vivante ; et  un  cliarme  etrange  emane  de  cette  figure. 
Celle-ci  (cf.  Plate)  d’une  date  plus  recente,  probablement  l’une  des 
plus  jeunes  de  la  serie,  montre  1’ effort  d’un  artiste  habile  pour  creer 
une  oeuvre  originale.  Dans  ces  formes  elancees,  dans  cette  tete 
petite  et  fine,  dans  ces  bras  jetes  en  avant  du  corps,  on  sent  la 
volonte  du  maitre  qui  cherche  a faire  autrement  que  ses  devanciers ; 
le  sourire  traditionnel  est  devenu  presque  imperceptible,  les  yeux, 
qui  souriaient  jadis  a 1’ unison  des  levres,  ont  cesse  de  se  relever 
vers  les  tempes  ; les  joues  creuses  se  remplissent  et  s’  arrondissent ; 
avec  des  oeuvres  de  cette  sorte,  l’archaisme  est  pret  a finir.  ...  La 
troisieme  enfin  est  une  des  oeuvres  les  plus  remarquables  de  1’  art 
attique.  Plus  ancienne  que  la  precedente,  elle  est  d’une  valeur 
artistique  bien  superieure.  Le  modele  en  est  exquis,  et  son  irre- 
prochable  finesse  fait  un  contraste  singulier  avec  les  procedes  qui 
sentent  encore  les  conventions  de  1’  ecole.  Suivant  les  traditions  de 
1’  art  antique,  les  yeux  sont  obliques  et  brides,  le  sourire  fait  toujours 
grimacer  les  levres  ; mais  dans  les  yeux  le  regard  n’est  plus  indiffe- 
rent et  fixe  ; il  brille  d’une  lueur  de  vie  et  de  pensee ; le  sourire 
de  ces  levres  n’est  plus  sec  et  dur,  il  semble  avoir  une  douceur 
attendrie.  Certes  il  n’y  a dans  cette  sculpture  nul  effort  pour 
chercher  des  chemins  nouveaux  ; mais  parmi  les  oeuvres  de  1’  art 
archaique,  parmi  celles  ou  le  maitre  a docilement  suivi  la  route 
frayee  et  battue,  cette  sculpture  a 1’ expression  candide  et  presque 
attristee  est  l’une  des  plus  admirables.” — Excursions  archeologiques 
en  Grece , p.  104. 


74 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


as  to  be  easily  intelligible.  A good  many  of  these 
tombs,  and  some  of  them  very  tine,  have  lately  been 
removed  to  the  National  Museum,  where  they  are  no 
doubt  safer,  and  more  easily  studied  and  compared, 
though  there  is  something  lost  in  not  having  them 
upon  their  original  site,  with  some  at  least  of  their 
original  surroundings.  What  I have  said  of  the 
museums  is,  even  so,  disappointing,  as  indeed  it 
should  be,  if  the  feelings  of  the  visitor  are  to  be 
faithfully  reproduced.  But  I must  not  fail  to  add, 
before  turning  to  other  places,  that  in  inscriptions 
these  museums  are  very  rich,  as  well  as  also  in  Attic 
vases,  and  lamps,  and  other  articles  of  great  im- 
portance in  our  estimate  of  old  Greek  life.  The 
professors  of  the  University  have  been  particularly 
diligent  in  deciphering  and  explaining  the  inscrip- 
tions, and  with  the  aid  of  the  Germans,  who  have 
collected,  and  are  still  collecting,  these  scattered 
documents  in  a complete  publication,  we  are  daily 
having  new  light  thrown  upon  Greek  history.  Thus 
Kohler  has  been  able  from  the  recovered  Attic 
tribute-lists  to  construct  a map  of  the  Athenian 
maritime  empire  with  its  dependencies,  which  tells 
the  student  more  in  five  minutes  than  hours  of  la- 
borious reading.  The  study  of  vases  and  lamps  is 
beyond  my  present  scope ; and  the  former  so  wide 
and  complicated  a subject,  that  it  cannot  be  mastered 
without  long  study  and  trouble.1 

1 When  I revisited  Athens  in  the  spring  of  1889,  the  National 


ATHP:NS— THE  MUSEUMS. 


75 


I pass,  therefore,  from  the  museums  to  the  street 
of  tombs,  which  Thucydides  tells  us  to  find  in  the 
fairest  suburb  of  the  city,  as  we  go  out  westward 
towards  the  groves  of  Academe,  and  before  we 
turn  slightly  to  the  south  on  our  way  to  the  Pei- 
rseus.  Thucydides  has  described  with  some  care 
the  funeral  ceremonies  held  in  this  famous  place, 
and  has  composed  for  us  a very  noble  funeral  ora- 
tion, which  he  has  put  in  the  mouth  of  Pericles.1 
It  is  with  this  oration,  probably  the  finest  passage 
in  Thucydides’s  great  history,  in  our  minds,  that 
we  approach  the  avenue  where  the  Athenians  laid 
their  dead.  We  have  to  pass  through  the  poor- 
est portion  of  modern  Athens,  through  wretched 
bazaars  and  dirty  markets,  which  abut  upon  the 
main  street.  Amid  all  this  squalor  and  poverty,  all 
this  complete  denial  of  art  and  leisure,  there  are 

Museum,  which  is  a fine  and  spacious  building,  was  quite  an 
orderly  museum,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  and  enjoy  the  works  of  art 
preserved  in  it.  The  archaic  things  were,  moreover  (as  in  the 
Acropolis),  placed  by  themselves  ; so  were  the  tombs,  and  so  were 
most  of  the  portrait  busts.  All  that  was  still  wanting  was  a good 
and  complete  catalogue. 

1 These  panegyrics — loyoi  k-mTatyLoi  they  were  called — were  a 
favorite  exercise  of  Greek  literary  men.  There  are  five  classical 
ones  still  extant — that  mentioned,  that  in  the  Menexenus  of  Plato, 
that  of  Hypereides,  and  those  ascribed  (justly)  to  Lysias  and 
(falsely)  to  Demosthenes.  That  of  Hypereides,  very  mutilated  as 
it  is,  seems  to  me  the  finest  next  to  that  of  Thucydides.  But  they 
are  all  built  upon  the  same  lines,  showing  even  here  that  strict 
conservatism  in  every  branch  of  Greek  art  which  never  varied, 
for  variety’s  sake,  from  a type  once  recognized  as  really  good. 


76 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


still  features  which  faintly  echo  old  Greek  life. 
There  is  the  bright  color  of  the  dresses — the  pre- 
dominance of  white,  and  red,  and  blue,  of  which 
the  old  Athenians  were  so  fond ; and  there  is  among 
the  lowest  classes  a great  deal  of  that  striking  beauty 
which  recalls  to  us  the  old  statues.  More  especially 
in  the  form  of  the  head,  and  in  the  expression,  of 
the  children,  we  see  types  not  to  be  found  elsewhere 
in  Europe,  and  which,  if  not  derived  from  classical 
Greece,  are  at  all  events  very  beautiful. 

We  then  come  on  to  the  railway  station,  which  is, 
indeed,  in  this  place,  as  elsewhere,  very  offensive. 
With  its  grimy  smoke,  its  shrill  sounds,  and  all  its 
other  hard  unloveliness,  it  is  not  a meet  neighbor 
for  the  tombs  of  the  old  Greeks,  which  are  close  to 
it  on  all  sides. 

They  lie — as  almost  all  old  ruins  do — far  below 
the  present  level  of  the  ground,  and  have,  therefore, 
to  be  exhumed  by  careful  digging.  When  this  has 
been  done  they  are  covered  with  a rude  door,  to 
protect  their  sculptured  face ; and  when  I first  saw 
them  were  standing  about,  without  any  order  or  regu- 
larity, close  to  the  spots  where  they  had  been  found. 

A proper  estimate  of  these  tombs  cannot  be  at- 
tained without  appreciating  the  feelings  with  Avhich 
the  survivors  set  them  up.  And  we  must  consider 
not  only  the  general  attitude  of  Greek  literature  on 
the  all-important  question  of  the  state  of  man  after 
death,  but  also  the  thousands  of  inscriptions  upon 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


77 


tombs,  both  with  and  without  sculptured  reliefs,  if 
we  will  form  a sure  opinion  about  the  feelings  of 
the  bereaved  in  these  bygone  days. 

We  know  from  Homer  and  from  Mimnermus  that 
in  the  earlier  periods,  though  the  Greeks  were  unable 
to  shake  off  a belief  in  life  after  death,  they  could  not 
conceive  that  state  as  anything  but  a shadowy  and 
wretched  echo  of  the  real  life  upon  earth.  It  was 
a gloomy  existence,  burdened  with  the  memory  of 
lost  happiness  and  the  longing  for  lost  enjoyment. 
To  the  Homeric  Greeks  death  was  a dark  unavoid- 
able fate,  without  hope  and  without  reward.  It  is, 
indeed,  true  that  we  find  in  Pindar  thoughts  and  as- 
pirations of  a very  different  kind.  We  have  in  the 
fragments  of  his  poetry  more  than  one  passage  as- 
serting the  rewards  of  the  just,  and  the  splendors  of 
a future  life  far  happier  than  that  which  we  now 
enjoy.  But,  notwithstanding  these  noble  visions, 
such  high  expectation  laid  no  hold  upon  the  im- 
agination of  the  Greek  world.  The  poems  of 
Pindar,  we  are  told,  soon  ceased  to  be  popular,  and 
his  visions  are  but  a streak  of  light  amid  general 
gloom.  The  kingdom  of  the  dead  in  iEschylus  is 
evidently,  as  in  Homer,  but  a weary  echo  of  this 
life,  where  honor  can  only  be  attained  by  the  pious 
service  of  loving  kinsfolk,  whose  duty  paid  to  the 
dead  affects  him  in  his  gloomier  state,  and  raises 
him  in  the  esteem  of  his  less-remembered  fellows. 
Sophocles  says  nothing  to  clear  away  the  night  j nay 


78 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


rather  his  deepest  and  maturest  contemplation  re- 
gards death  as  the  worst  of  ills  to  the  happy  man — 
a sorry  refuge  to  the  miserable.  Euripides  longs 
that  there  may  be  no  future  state ; and  Plato  only 
secures  the  immortality  of  the  soul  by  severing  it 
from  the  person — the  man,  and  all  his  interests. 

It  is  plain,  from  this  evidence,  that  the  Greeks 
must  have  looked  upon  the  death  of  those  they 
loved  with  unmixed  sorrow.  It  was  the  final  part- 
ing, when  all  the  good  and  pleasant  things  are  re- 
membered ; when  men  seek,  as  it  were,  to  increase 
the  pang,  by  clothing  the  dead  in  all  his  sweetest 
and  dearest  presence.  But  this  was  not  done  by 
pompous  inscriptions,  or  by  a vain  enumeration  of 
all  the  deceased  had  performed — inscriptions  which, 
among  us,  tell  more  of  the  vanity  than  of  the  grief 
of  the  survivors.  The  commonest  epitaph  was  a 
simple  or  farewell ; and  it  is  this  single  word, 

so  full  and  deep  in  its  meaning  to  those  who  love, 
which  is  pictured  in  the  tomb  reliefs.  They  are 
simple  parting  scenes,  expressing  the  grief  of  the 
survivors,  and  the  great  sadness  of  the  sufferer,  who 
is  going  to  his  long  home. 

Nevertheless,  what  strikes  us  forcibly  in  these  re- 
markable monuments  is  the  chastened  modest  ex- 
pression of  sorrow  which  they  display.  There  is  no 
violence,  no  despair,  no  extravagance — all  is  simple 
and  noble ; thus  combining  purity  of  art  with  a far 
deeper  pathos — a far  nobler  grief — than  that  of  the 


A Tomb  from  the  Via  Sacra,  Athens 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


79 


exaggerated  paintings  and  sculptures  which  seek  to 
express  mourning  in  later  and  less  cultivated  ages.1 
We  may  defy  any  art  to  produce  truer  or  more 
poignant  pictures  of  real  sorrow — a sorrow,  as  I 
have  explained,  far  deeper  and  more  hopeless  than 
any  Christian  sorrow ; and  yet  there  is  no  wringing 
of  hands,  no  swooning,  no  defacing  with  sackcloth 
and  ashes.2  Sometimes,  indeed,  as  in  the  celebrated 
tomb  of  Dexileos,  a mere  portrait  of  the  dead  in 
active  life  was  put  upon  his  tomb,  and  private  grief 
would  not  assert  itself  in  presence  of  the  record  of 
his  public  services. 

I know  not  that  any  other  remnants  of  Greek  art 
bring  home  to  us  more  plainly  one  of  its  eternal  and  di- 
vine features — or  shall  I rather  say,  one  of  its  eternal 
and  human  features  l — the  greatest,  if  not  the  main 
feature,  which  has  made  it  the  ever  new  and  ever 
lasting  lawgiver  to  men  in  their  efforts  to  represent 
the  ideal. 

If  I am  to  permit  myself  any  digression  whatever, 
we  cannot  do  better  than  conclude  this  chapter  with 
some  reflections  on  this  subject,  and  we  may  there- 

1 Roubiliac’s  monuments  in  Westminster  Abbey,  which  excited 
the  admiration  of  his  contemporaries,  are  the  best  example  I 
know  of  degradation  in  public  taste  on  this  question. 

2 I did,  indeed,  see  one  relief  at  Athens,  in  which  the  relatives 
are  represented  as  rushing  forward  in  agony,  as  it  were  to  delay 
the  departure  of  the  fainting  figure.  It  is  right  that  this  excep- 
tion should  be  noted,  as  it  shows  that  they  understood  what 
violent  grief  was,  and  yet  avoided  representing  it  as  a rule. 


80 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


fore  turn,  by  suggestion  of  the  Athenian  tombs,  to  a 
few  general  remarks  on  the  reserve  of  Greek  art — 
I mean  the  reserve  in  the  displaying  emotion,  in  the 
portraying  of  the  fierce  outbursts  of  joy  or  grief; 
and  again,  more  generally,  the  reserve  in  the  ex- 
hibiting of  peculiar  or  personal  features,  passing  in- 
terests, or  momentary  emotions. 

In  a philosophy  now  rather  forgotten  than  extinct, 
and  which  once  commanded  no  small  attention, 
Adam  Smith  was  led  to  analyze  the  indirect  effects 
of  sympathy , from  which,  as  a single  principle,  he 
desired  to  deduce  all  the  rules  of  ethics.  While 
straining  many  points  unduly,  he  must  be  con- 
fessed to  have  explained  with  great  justice  the 
origin  of  good  taste  or  tact  in  ordinary  life,  which 
he  saw  to  be  the  careful  watching  of  the  interest  of 
others  in  our  own  affairs,  and  the  feeling  that  we 
must  not  force  upon  them  what  concerns  ourselves, 
except  we  are  sure  to  carry  with  us  their  active 
sympathy.  Good  breeding,  he  says,  consists  in  a 
delicate  perception  how  far  this  will  go,  and  in  sup- 
pressing those  of  our  feelings  which,  though  they 
affect  us  strongly,  cannot  be  expected  to  affect  in 
like  manner  our  neighbor,  whose  sympathy  should  be 
the  measure  and  limit  of  our  outspokenness.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  whatever  other  elements  come 
in,  this  analysis  is  true,  so  far  as  it  goes,  and  recom- 
mends itself  at  once  to  the  convictions  of  any  edu- 
cated man.  The  very  same  principle  applies  still  more 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


81 


strongly  and  universally  in  art.  As  tragedy  is  bound 
to  treat  ideal  griefs  and  joys  of  so  large  and  broad  a 
kind  that  every  spectator  may  merge  in  them  his 
petty  troubles,  so  ideal  sculpture  and  painting  are 
only  ideal  so  far  as  they  represent  those  large  and 
eternal  features  in  human  nature  which  must  always 
command  the  sympathy  of  every  pure  human  heart. 

Let  us  dispose  at  once  of  an  apparent  exception 
— the  mediaeval  pictures  of  the  Passion  of  Christ, 
and  the  sorrows  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  Here  the 
artist  allowed  himself  the  most  extreme  treatment, 
because  the  objects  were  necessarily  the  centre  of 
the  very  highest  sympathy.  No  expression  of  the 
grief  of  Christ  could  be  thought  exaggerated  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  because  in  this  very  exaggeration  lay 
the  centre  point  of  men’s  religion.  But  when  no 
such  object  of  universal  and  all-absorbing  sympathy 
can  be  found  (and  there  was  none  such  in  pagan 
life),  then  the  Greek  artist  must  attain  by  his  treat- 
ment of  the  object  what  the  Christian  artist  obtained 
by  the  object  itself.  Assuming,  then,  a mastery 
over  his  material,  and  sufficient  power  of  execution, 
the  next  feature  to  be  looked  for  in  Greek  art,  and 
especially  in  Greek  sculpture,  is  a certain  modesty 
and  reserve  in  expression,  which  will  not  portray 
slight  defects  in  picturing  a man,  but  represent  that 
eternal  or  ideal  character  in  him  which  remains  in 
our  memory  when  he  is  gone.  Such,  for  example, 
is  the  famous  portrait-statue  of  Sophocles. 

6 


82 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Such  are  also  all  that  great  series  of  ideal  figures 
which  meet  us  in  the  galleries  of  ancient  art.  They 
seldom  show  us  any  violent  emotion  5 they  are  sel- 
dom even  in  so  special  an  attitude  that  critics  cannot 
interpret  it  in  several  different  ways,  or  as  suitable 
to  several  myths.  It  is  not  passing  states  of  feeling, 
but  the  eternal  and  ideal  beauty  of  human  nature, 
which  Greek  sculpture  seeks  to  represent  j and  for 
this  reason  it  has  held  its  sway  through  all  the  cen- 
turies which  have  since  gone  by.  This  was  the 
calm  art  of  Phidias,  and  Polycletus,  and  Polygnotus, 
in  sentiment  not  differing  from  the  rigid  awkward- 
ness of  their  predecessors,  but  in  mastery  of  propor- 
tions and  of  difficulties  attaining  the  grace  in  which 
the  others  had  failed.  To  this  general  law  there 
are,  no  doubt,  exceptions,  and  perhaps  very  brilliant 
ones ; yet  they  are  exceptions,  and  even  in  them, 
if  we  consider  them  attentively,  we  can  see  the  uni- 
versal features  and  the  points  of  sympathy  for  all 
mankind.  But  if  the  appeal  for  sympathy  is  indeed 
overstrained,  then,  however  successful  in  its  own 
society  and  its  own  social  atmosphere,  the  work  of 
art  loses  power  when  offered  to  another  generation. 
Thus  Euripides,  though  justly  considered  in  his  own 
society  the  most  tragic  of  poets,  has  for  this  very 
reason  ceased  to  appeal  to  us  as  iEschylus  still  ap- 
peals. For  iEschylus  kept  within  the  proper  bounds 
dictated  by  the  reserve  of  art ; Euripides  often  did 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


83 


not,  and  his  work,  though  great  and  full  of  genius, 
suffered  accordingly. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  tombs  before  us  are  re- 
markable as  exemplifying,  with  the  tact  of  genius, 
this  true  and  perfect  reserve.  They  are  simple  pict- 
ures of  the  grief  of  parting — of  the  recollection  of 
pleasant  days  of  love  and  friendship — of  the  gloom  of 
the  unknown  future.  But  there  is  no  exaggeration, 
nor  speciality — no  individuality,  I had  almost  said — 
in  the  picture.  I feel  no  curiosity  to  inquire  who 
these  people  are — what  were  their  names — even 
what  was  the  relationship  of  the  deceased.1  For  I 
am  perfectly  satisfied  with  an  ideal  portrait  of  the 
grief  of  parting — a grief  that  comes  to  us  all,  and 
lays  bitter  hold  of  us  at  some  season  of  life ; and  it 
is  this  universal  sorrow — this  great  common  flaw  in 
our  lives — which  the  Greek  artist  has  brought  before 
us,  and  which  calls  forth  our  deepest  sympathy. 
There  will  be  future  occasion  to  come  back  upon 
this  all-important  feature  in  connection  with  the 
action  in  Greek  sculpture,  and  even  with  the  draping 
of  their  statues — in  all  of  which  the  calm  and 
chaste  reserve  of  the  better  Greek  art  contrasts 
strangely  with  the  Michael  Angelos,  and  Berninis, 

1 I fancy,  from  the  unity  of  type  shown  in  many  of  them,  that 
they  may  even  have  been  designed  by  the  artist  without  regard  to 
the  special  case,  and  purchased  by  the  family  of  the  deceased 
ready  made.  The  figures  upon  them  do  not  seem  to  me  personal 
likenesses. 


84 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


and  Canovas,  of  other  days ; nay,  even  with  the 
Greek  sculpture  of  a no  less  brilliant  but  less  refined 
age. 

But,  in  concluding  this  digression,  I will  call  at- 
tention to  a modern  parallel  in  the  portraiture  of 
grief,  and  of  grief  at  final  parting.  This  parallel  is 
not  a piece  of  sculpture,  but  a poem,  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  poem  of  our  generation — the  In 
Memoriam  of  Lord  Tennyson.  Though  written 
from  personal  feeling,  and  to  commemorate  a special 
person — Arthur  Hallam — whom  some  of  us  even 
knew,  has  this  poem  laid  hold  of  the  imagination  of 
men  strongly  and  lastingly  owing  to  the  poet’s 
special  loss  ? Certainly  not.  I do  not  even  think 
that  this  great  dirge — this  magnificent  funeral  poem 
— has  excited  in  most  of  us  any  strong  interest  in 
Arthur  Hallam.  In  fact,  any  other  friend  of  the 
poet’s  would  have  suited  the  general  reader  equally 
well  as  the  exciting  cause  of  a poem,  which  we  de- 
light in  because  it  puts  into  great  words  the  ever- 
recurring  and  permanent  features  in  such  grief — 
those  dark  longings  about  the  future ; those  sugges- 
tions of  despair,  of  discontent  with  the  providence 
of  the  world,  of  wild  speculation  about  its  laws ; 
those  struggles  to  reconcile  our  own  loss,  and  that  of 
the  human  race,  with  some  larger  law  of  wisdom 
and  of  benevolence.  To  the  poet,  of  course,  his 
own  particular  friend  was  the  great  centre  point  of 
the  whole.  But  to  us,  in  reading  it,  there  is  a wide 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


85 


distinction  between  the  personal  passages — I mean 
those  which  give  family  details,  and  special  circum- 
stances in  Hallam’s  life,  or  his  intimacy  with  the 
poet — and  the  purely  poetical  or  artistic  passages, 
which  soar  away  into  a region  far  above  all  special 
detail,  and  sing  of  the  great  gloom  which  hangs 
over  the  future,  and  of  the  vehement  beating  of  the 
human  soul  against  the  bars  of  its  prison  house, 
when  one  is  taken,  and  another  left,  not  merely  at 
apparent  random,  but  with  apparent  injustice  and 
damage  to  mankind.  Hence,  every  man  in  grief 
for  a lost  friend  will  read  the  poem  to  his  great  com- 
fort, and  will  then  only  see  clearly  what  it  means ; 
and  he  will  find  it  speak  to  him  specially  and  par- 
ticularly, not  in  its  personal  passages,  but  in  its  gen- 
eral features ; in  its  hard  metaphysics ; in  its  mys- 
tical theology ; in  its  angry  and  uncertain  ethics. 
For  even  the  commonest  mind  is  forced  by  grief  out 
of  its  commonness,  and  attacks  the  world-problems, 
which  at  other  times  it  has  no  power  or  taste  to  ap- 
proach. 

By  this  illustration,  then,  the  distinction  between 
the  universal  and  the  personal  features  of  grief  can 
be  clearly  seen  ; and  the  reader  will  admit  that, 
though  it  would  be  most  unreasonable  to  dictate  to 
the  poet,  or  to  imagine  that  he  should  have  omitted 
the  stanzas  which  refer  specially  to  his  friend,  and 
which  were  to  him  of  vital  importance,  yet  to  us  it 
is  no  loss  to  forget  that  name  and  those  circum- 


86 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


stances,  and  hold  fast  to  the  really  eternal  (and  be- 
cause eternal,  really  artistic)  features,  in  that  very 
noble  symphony — shall  I say  of  half-resolved  dis- 
cords, or  of  suspended  harmonies,  which  faith  may 
reconcile,  but  which  reason  can  hardly  analyze  or 
understand  I1 

Within  a few  minutes’  walk  of  these  splendid 
records  of  the  dead,  the  traveller  who  returns  to  the 
town  across  the  Observatory  Hill  will  find  a very 
different  cemetery.  For  here  he  suddenly  comes  up 
to  a long  cleft  in  the  rock,  running  parallel  with  the 
road  below,  and  therefore  quite  invisible  from  it. 
The  rising  ground  towards  the  city  hides  it  equally 
from  the  Acropolis,  and  accordingly  from  all  Athens. 
This  gorge,  some  two  hundred  yards  long,  sixty 
wide,  and  over  thirty  feet  deep,  is  the  notorious 
Barathrum , the  place  of  execution  in  old  days  ; the 
place  where  criminals  were  cast  out,  and  where  the 
public  executioner  resided.  It  has  been  falsely  in- 
ferred by  the  old  scholiasts  that  the  Athenians  cast 
men  alive  into  the  pit.  It  is  not  nearly  deep 
enough  now  to  cause  death  in  this  way,  and  there 
seems  no  reason  why  its  original  depth  should  have 
been  diminished  by  any  accumulation  of  rubbish, 
such  as  is  common  on  inhabited  sites.  u Casting 

1 In  the  Adonais,  Shelley  affords  a curious  contrast  to  the  some- 
what morbid  prominence  of  the  poet  in  the  case  before  us.  The 
self-effacement  of  Shelley  has  centred  all  our  interest  on  his  lost 
friend. 


ATHENS— THE  TOMBS. 


87 


into  the  Barathrum  ” referred  rather  to  the  refusing 
the  rights  of  burial  to  executed  criminals — an  ad- 
ditional disgrace,  and  to  the  Greeks  a grave  addi- 
tional penalty.  Honor  among  the  dead  was  held  to 
follow  in  exact  proportion  to  the  continued  honors 
paid  by  surviving  friends. 

Here,  then,  out  of  view  of  all  the  temples  and 
hallowed  sites  of  the  city,  dwelt  the  public  slave, 
with  his  instruments  of  death,  perhaps  in  a cave  or 
grotto,  still  to  be  seen  in  the  higher  wall  of  the 
gorge,  and  situated  close  to  the  point  where  an  old 
path  leads  over  the  hill  towards  the  city.  Plato 
speaks  of  young  men  turning  aside,  as  they  came 
from  Peirseus,  to  see  the  dead  lying  in  charge  of 
this  official ; and  there  must  have  been  times  in  the 
older  history  of  Athens  when  this  cleft  in  the  rock 
was  a place  of  carnage  and  of  horror.  The  gentler 
law  of  later  days  seems  to  have  felt  this  outrage  on 
human  feeling,  and  instead  of  casting  the  dead  into 
the  Barathrum,  it  was  merely  added  to  the  sentence 
that  the  body  should  not  be  buried  within  the 
boundaries  of  Attica.  Yet,  though  the  Barathrum 
may  have  been  no  longer  used,  the  accursed  gate 
( lepa  nobj)  still  led  to  it  from  the  city,  and  the  old 
associations  clung  about  its  gloomy  seclusion.  Even 
in  the  last  century,  the  Turks,  whether  acting  from 
instinct,  or  led  by  old  tradition,  still  used  it  as  a 
place  of  execution. 

In  the  present  day,  all  traces  of  this  hideous  his- 


88 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


tory  have  long  passed  away,  and  I found  a little  field 
of  corn  waving  upon  the  level  ground  beneath, 
which  had  once  been  the  Aceldama  of  Athens. 
But  even  now  there  seemed  a certain  loneliness  and 
weirdness  about  the  place — silent  and  deserted  in 
the  midst  of  thoroughfares,  hidden  from  the  haunts 
of  men,  and  hiding  them  from  view  by  its  massive 
walls.  Nay,  as  if  to  bring  back  the  dark  memories 
of  the  past,  great  scarlet  poppies  stained  the  ground 
in  patches  as  it  were  with  slaughter,  and  hawks  and 
ravens  were  still  circling  about  overhead,  as  their 
ancestors  did  in  the  days  of  blood ; attached,  I sup- 
pose, by  hereditary  instinct  to  this  fatal  place,  u for 
where  the  carcase  is,  there  shall  the  eagles  be 
gathered  together.” 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE  ACROPOLIS  OF  ATHENS. 

I SUPPOSE  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that 
the  ruins  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens  are  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  world.  There  are  ruins  far 
larger,  such  as  the  pyramids,  and  the  remains  of 
Karnak.  There  are  ruins  far  more  perfectly  pre- 
served, such  as  the  great  Temple  at  Psestum. 
There  are  ruins  more  picturesque,  such  as  the  ivy- 
clad  walls  of  mediseval  abbeys  beside  the  rivers  in 
the  rich  valleys  of  England.  But  there  is  no  ruin, 
all  the  world  over,  which  combines  so  much  striking 
beauty,  so  distinct  a type,  so  vast  a volume  of  his- 
tory, so  great  a pageant  of  immortal  memories. 
There  is,  in  fact,  no  building  on  earth  which  can 
sustain  the  burden  of  such  greatness,  and  so  the  first 
visit  to  the  Acropolis  is  and  must  be  disappointing. 
When  the  traveller  reflects  how  all  the  Old  World’s 
culture  culminated  in  Greece — all  Greece  in  Athens 
— all  Athens  in  its  Acropolis — all  the  Acropolis  in 
the  Parthenon — so  much  crowds  upon  the  mind  con- 
fusedly that  we  look  for  some  enduring  monument 
whereupon  we  can  fasten  our  thoughts,  and  from 
which  we  can  pass  as  from  a visible  starting-point 


90 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


into  all  this  history  and  all  this  greatness.  And  at 
first  we  look  in  vain.  The  shattered  pillars  and  the 
torn  pediments  will  not  bear  so  great  a strain  : and 
the  traveller  feels  forced  to  admit  a sense  of  disap- 
pointment, sore  against  his  will.  He  has  come  a 
long  journey  into  the  remoter  parts  of  Europe  ; he 
has  reached  at  last  what  his  soul  had  longed  for 
many  years  in  vain : and  as  is  wont  to  be  the  case 
with  all  great  human  longings,  the  truth  does  not 
fulfil  his  desire.  The  pang  of  disappointment  is 
all  the  greater  when  he  sees  that  the  tooth  of  time 
and  the  shock  of  earthquake  have  done  but  little 
harm.  It  is  the  hand  of  man — of  reckless  foe  and 
ruthless  lover — which  has  robbed  him  of  his  hope. 
This  is  the  feeling,  I am  sure,  of  more  than  have 
confessed  it,  when  they  first  wound  their  way 
through  the  fields  of  great  blue  aloes,  and  passed  up 
through  the  Propylsea  into  the  presence  of  the  Par- 
thenon. But  to  those  who  have  not  given  way  to 
these  feelings — who  have  gone  again  and  again  and 
sat  upon  the  rock,  and  watched  the  ruins  at  every 
hour  of  the  day,  and  in  the  brightness  of  a moon- 
light night — to  those  who  have  dwelt  among  them, 
and  meditated  upon  them  with  love  and  awe — there 
first  come  back  the  remembered  glories  of  Athens’s 
greatness,  when  Olympian  Pericles  stood  upon  this 
rock  with  careworn  Phidias,  and  reckless  Alcibiades 
with  Pious  Nicias  and  fervent  Demosthenes  with 
caustic  Phocion — when  such  men  peopled  the  temples 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


91 


in  their  worship,  and  all  the  fluted  pillars  and  sculpt- 
ured friezes  were  bright  with  scarlet,  and  blue,  and 
gold.  And  then  the  glory  of  remembered  history 
casts  its  hue  over  the  war-stained  remnants.  Every 
touch  of  human  hand,  every  fluting,  and  drop,  and 
triglyph,  and  cornice  recalls  the  master  minds  which 
produced  this  splendor ; and  so  at  last  we  tear  our- 
selves from  it  as  from  a thing  of  beauty,  which  even 
now  we  can  never  know,  and  love,  and  meditate 
upon  to  our  hearts’  content. 

Nothing  is  more  vexatious  than  the  reflection, 
how  lately  these  splendid  remains  have  been  re- 
duced to  their  present  state.  The  Parthenon,  being 
used  as  a Greek  church,  remained  untouched  and 
perfect  all  through  the  Middle  Ages.  Then  it  be- 
came a mosque,  and  the  Erechtheum  a seraglio,  and 
in  this  way  survived  with  little  damage  till  1687, 
when,  in  the  bombardment  by  the  Venetians  under 
Morosini,  a shell  dropped  into  the  Parthenon,  where 
the  Turks  had  their  powder  stored,  and  blew  out  the 
whole  centre  of  the  building.  Eight  or  nine  pillars 
at  each  side  have  been  thrown  down,  and  have  left  a 
large  gap,  which  so  severs  the  front  and  rear  of  the 
temple,  that  from  the  city  below  they  look  like  the 
remains  of  two  different  buildings.  The  great  drums 
of  these  pillars  are  yet  lying  there,  in  their  order, 
just  as  they  fell,  and  some  money  and  care  might 
set  them  all  up  again  in  their  places  ; yet  there  is 
not  in  Greece  the  patriotism  or  even  the  common 


92 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sense  to  enrich  the  country  by  this  restoration, 
matchless  in  its  certainty  as  well  as  in  its  splendor. 

But  the  Venetians  were  not  content  with  their  ex- 
ploit. They  were,  about  this  time,  when  they  held 
possession  of  most  of  Greece,  emulating  the  Pisan 
taste  for  Greek  sculptures  5 and  the  four  fine  lions 
standing  at  the  gate  of  the  arsenal  at  Venice  still 
testify  to  their  zeal  in  carrying  home  Greek  trophies 
to  adorn  their  capital.  Morosini  wished  to  take 
down  the  sculptures  of  Phidias  from  the  eastern 
pediment,  but  his  workmen  attempted  it  so  clumsily 
that  the  figures  fell  from  their  place,  and  were  dashed 
to  pieces  on  the  ground.  The  Italians  also  left  their 
lasting  mark  on  the  place  by  building  a high  square 
tower  of  wretched  patched  masonry  at  the  right 
side  of  the  entrance  gate,  which  had  of  late  years 
become  such  an  eyesore  to  the  better  educated  pub- 
lic, that  when  I was  first  at  Athens  there  was  a sub- 
scription on  foot  to  have  it  taken  down — not  only  in 
order  to  remove  an  obtrusive  reminiscence  of  the 
invaders,  but  in  the  hope  of  bringing  to  light  some 
pillars  of  the  Propylsea  built  into  it,  as  well  as 
many  inscribed  stones,  broken  off  and  carried  away 
from  their  places  as  building  material.  This  expec- 
tation has  not  been  verified  by  the  results.  The 
tower  was  taken  down  by  the  liberality  of  M. 
Schliemann,  and  there  were  hardly  any  inscriptions 
or  sculptures  discovered. 

A writer  in  the  Saturday  Review  (No.  1134) 


ATHENS- THE  ACROPOLIS. 


93 


attacks  this  removal  of  the  Venetian  tower,  and 
my  approval  of  it,  as  a piece  of  ignorant  and  bar- 
barous pedantry,  which  from  love  of  the  old  Greek 
work,  and  its  sanctity,  desires  to  destroy  the  later 
history  of  the  place,  and  efface  the  monuments  of 
its  fortunes  in  after  ages.1  This  writer,  whose  per- 
sonality is  unmistakable,  thinks  that  even  the  Turk- 
ish additions  to  the  Parthenon  should  have  been  left 
untouched,  so  that  the  student  of  to-day  could 
meditate  upon  all  these  incongruities,  and  draw 
from  them  historical  lessons.  And,  assuredly,  of  all 
lessons  conveyed,  that  of  a victory  over  the  Turks 
would  be  to  this  writer  the  most  important  and  the 
most  delightful. 

If  this  great  man  will  not  silence  us  with  his 
authority,  but  let  us  argue  with  him,  we  might  sug- 
gest that  there  are,  no  doubt,  cases  where  the  inter- 
ests of  art  and  of  history  are  conflicting,  and  where 
a restoration  of  pristine  beauty  must  take  away 
from  the  evidences  of  later  history.  The  real  ques- 
tion is  then,  whether  the  gain  in  art  is  greater  than 
the  loss  in  history.  In  the  case  of  the  Parthenon 
I think  it  is,  now  especially,  when  records  and 
drawings  of  the  inferior  additions  can  be  secured. 

1 He  also  supposed  that  the  tower  was  Frankish,  and  built  long 
before  the  Venetian  conquest.  But  here  he  was  wrong.  The  stones 
inside  the  tower,  when  taken  down,  showed  clear  traces  of  gun- 
powder, as  was  clearly  shown  in  a learned  refutation  of  his  views, 
printed  at  Athens. 


94 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


It  may  be  historically  important  to  note  the  special 
work  and  character  of  every  generation  of  men  ; 
but  surely  for  the  education  of  the  human  race  in 
the  laws  of  beauty,  and  in  general  culture,  some 
ages  are  worth  nothing,  and  others  worth  every- 
thing ; and  I will  not  admit  that  this  sort  of  educa- 
tion is  one  whit  less  important  than  education  in  the 
facts  of  history. 

Of  course,  artistic  restorations  are  often  carried 
too  far ; a certain  age  may  be  arbitrarily  assumed 
as  the  canon  of  perfection,  and  everything  else  de- 
stroyed to  make  way  for  it.  There  are  few  ages 
which  can  lay  claim  to  such  pre-eminence  as  the 
age  of  Pericles  ; yet  even  in  this  case,  were  the 
mediaeval  additions  really  beautiful,  we  should,  of 
course,  hesitate  to  disturb  them.  But  the  Venetian 
tower,  though  a picturesque  addition  to  the  rock 
when  seen  from  a distance,  so  much  so,  that  I felt 
its  loss  when  I saw  the  Acropolis  again,  had  no 
claim  to  architectural  beauty ; it  was  set  up  in  a 
place  sacred  to  greater  associations,  and  besides 
there  was  every  reasonable  prospect  that  its  removal 
would  subserve  historical  ends  of  far  more  impor- 
tance than  the  Venetian  occupation  of  the  Acropolis. 
A few  inscriptions  of  the  date  of  Pericles,  contain- 
ing treaties  or  other  such  public  matter,  would,  in 
my  opinion,  have  perfectly  justified  its  removal, 
even  though  it  did  signify  a victory  of  Christians 
over  Turks. 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


95 


In  any  case,  it  seems  to  me  unfair  that  if  every 
generation  is  to  express  its  knowledge  by  material 
results,  we  should  not  be  permitted  to  record  our  con- 
viction that  old  Greek  art  or  old  Greek  history  is  far 
greater  and  nobler  than  either  Turkish  or  Venetian 
history,  and  to  testify  this  opinion  by  making  their 
monuments  give  way  to  it.  This  is  the  mark  of  our 
generation  on  the  earth.  Thus  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury was,  no  doubt,  a most  important  time  in  the 
history  even  of  art,  but  where  noble  thirteenth  cen- 
tury churches  have  been  dressed  up  and  loaded  with 
eighteenth  century  additions,  I cannot  think  the 
historical  value  of  these  additions,  as  evidence  of 
the  taste  or  the  history  of  their  age,  counterbalances 
their  artistic  mischievousness,  and  I sympathize  with 
the  nations  who  take  them  away.  Of  course,  this 
principle  may  be  overdriven,  and  has  been  often 
abused.  Against  such  abuses  the  remarks  of  the 
great  critic  to  whom  I refer  are  a very  salutary 
protest.  But  that  any  barbarous  or  unsightly  de- 
forming of  great  artistic  monuments  is  to  be  pro- 
tected on  historical  grounds — this  is  a principle  of 
which  neither  his  genius  nor  his  sneers  will  convince 
me.  As  for  the  charge  of  pedantry,  no  charge  is 
more  easily  made,  but  no  charge  is  more  easily 
retorted. 

Strangely  enough,  his  theory  of  the  absolute 
sanctity  of  old  brick  and  mortar  nearly  agrees  in 
results  with  the  absolute  carelessness  about  such 


96 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


things,  which  is  the  peculiarity  of  his  special  ene- 
mies, the  Turks.  The  Turks,  according  to  Dodwell, 
who  is  a most  trustworthy  witness,  never  destroyed 
the  old  buildings  unless  they  wanted  them  for  ma- 
sonry. He  tells  us  not  to  believe  that  the  figures 
of  the  remaining  pediment  were  used  as  targets  by 
the  Turkish  soldiers — a statement  often  made  in  his 
day.  However  that  may  be,  I have  little  doubt, 
from  what  I saw  myself,  that  Greek  soldiers  in  the 
present  day  might  so  use  them.  But  the  Turks  did 
take  down  some  pillars  of  the  Propylsea  while  Dod- 
well was  there,  for  building  purposes,  an  occur- 
rence which  gave  that  excellent  observer  the  oppor- 
tunity of  noting  the  old  Greek  way  of  fitting  the 
drums  of  the  pillars  together.  He  even  got  into  his 
possession  one  of  the  pieces  of  cypress  wood  used 
as  plugs  between  the  stone  masses,  and  has  given  a 
drawing  of  it,  and  explained  the  method  of  its  use, 
in  his  admirable  book.1 

But  the  same  traveller  was  also  present  when  a 
far  more  determined  and  systematic  attack  was  made 
upon  the  remaining  ruins  of  the  Parthenon.  While 
he  was  travelling  in  the  interior,  Lord  Elgin  had 
obtained  his  famous  firman  from  the  Sultan  to  take 
down  and  remove  any  antiquities  or  sculptured 
stones  he  might  require,  and  the  infuriated  Dodwell 

1 Other  specimens  are  preserved  in  the  little  Turkish  house  on 
the  Acropolis,  and  should  be  noted  by  the  visitor,  who  may  easily 
pass  them  by. 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


97 


saw  a set  of  ignorant  workmen,  under  equally  igno- 
rant overseers,  let  loose  upon  the  splendid  ruins  of 
the  age  of  Pericles.  He  speaks  with  much  good 
sense  and  feeling  of  this  proceeding.  He  is  fully 
aware  that  the  world  would  derive  inestimable  bene- 
fit from  the  transplanting  of  these  splendid  frag- 
ments to  a more  accessible  place,  but  he  cannot  find 
language  strong  enough  to  express  his  disgust  at  the 
way  in  which  the  thing  was  done.  Incredible  as 
it  may  appear,  Lord  Elgin  himself  seems  not  to 
have  superintended  the  work,  but  to  have  left  it  to 
paid  contractors,  who  undertook  the  job  for  a fixed 
sum.  Little  as  either  Turks  or  Greeks  cared  for 
the  ruins,  Dodwell  says  that  a pang  of  grief  was 
felt  through  all  Athens  at  the  desecration,  and  that 
the  contractors  were  obliged  to  bribe  workmen  with 
additional  wages  to  undertake  the  ungrateful  task. 
He  will  not  even  mention  Lord  Elgin  by  name,  but 
speaks  of  him  with  disgust  as  u the  person  77  who 
defaced  the  Parthenon.  He  believes  that  had  this 
person  been  at  Athens  himself,  his  underlings  could 
hardly  have  behaved  in  the  reckless  way  they  did, 
pulling  down  more  than  they  wanted,  and  taking  no 
care  to  prop  up  and  save  the  work  from  which  they 
had  taken  the  supports. 

He  especially  notices  their  scandalous  proceeding 
upon  taking  up  one  of  the  great  white  marble  blocks 
which  form  the  floor  or  stylobate  of  the  temple. 
They  wanted  to  see  what  was  underneath,  and  Dod- 
7 


98 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


well,  who  was  there,  saw  the  foundation — a sub- 
structure of  Peirseic  sandstone.  But  when  they  had 
finished  their  inspection  they  actually  left  the  block 
they  had  removed,  without  putting  it  back  into  its 
place.  So  this  beautiful  pavement,  made  merely  of 
closely-fitting  blocks,  without  any  artificial  or  foreign 
joinings,  was  ripped  up,  and  the  work  of  its  de- 
struction begun.  I am  happy  to  add  that,  though  a 
considerable  rent  was  then  made,  most  of  it  is  still 
intact,  and  the  traveller  of  to-day  may  still  walk  on 
the  very  stones  which  bore  the  tread  of  every  great 
Athenian. 

The  question  has  often  been  discussed,  whether 
Lord  Elgin  was  justified  in  carrying  off  this  pedi- 
ment, the  metopes,  and  the  friezes,  from  their  place  ; 
and  the  Greeks  of  to-day  hope  confidently  that  the 
day  will  come  when  England  will  restore  these  treas- 
ures to  their  place.  This  is,  of  course,  absurd,  and 
it  may  fairly  be  argued  that  people  who  would  bom- 
bard their  antiquities  in  a revolution  are  not  fit 
custodians  of  them  in  the  intervals  of  domestic 
quiet.  This  was  my  reply  to  an  old  Greek  gentle- 
man who  assailed  the  memory  of  Lord  Elgin  with 
reproaches.  I told  him  that  I was  credibly  in- 
formed the  Greeks  had  themselves  bombarded  the 
Turks  in  the  Acropolis  during  the  war  of  liberation, 
as  several  great  pieces  knocked  out  and  starred  on 
the  western  front  testify.  He  confessed,  to  my 
amusement,  that  he  had  himself  been  one  of  the 


ATHENS-THE  ACROPOLIS. 


99 


assailants,  and  excused  the  act  by  the  necessities  of 
war.  I replied  that,  as  the  country  seemed  then 
(1875)  on  the  verge  of  a revolution,  the  sculptures 
might  at  least  remain  in  the  British  Museum  until  a 
secure  government  was  established.  And  this  is  the 
general  verdict  of  learned  men  on  the  matter. 
They  are  agreed  that  it  was  on  the  whole  a gain  to 
science  to  remove  the  figures,  but  all  stigmatize  as 
barbarous  and  shameful  the  reckless  way  in  which 
the  work  was  carried  out. 

I confess  I approved  of  this  removal  until  I came 
home  from  Greece,  and  went  again  to  see  the  spoil 
in  its  place  in  our  great  Museum.  Though  there 
treated  with  every  care — though  shown  to  the  best 
advantage,  and  explained  by  excellent  models  of  the 
whole  building,  and  clear  descriptions  of  their  place 
on  it — notwithstanding  all  this,  the  loss  that  these 
wonderful  fragments  had  sustained  by  being  sep- 
arated from  their  place  was  so  terribly  manifest — 
they  looked  so  unmeaning  in  an  English  room,  away 
from  their  temple,  their  country,  and  their  lovely 
atmosphere, — that  one  earnestly  wished  they  had 
never  been  taken  from  their  place,  even  at  the  risk 
of  being  made  a target  by  the  Greeks  or  the  Turks. 
I am  convinced,  too,  that  the  few  who  would  have 
seen  them,  as  intelligent  travellers,  on  their  famous 
rock,  would  have  gained  in  quality  the  advantage 
now  diffused  among  many,  but  weakened  and  almost 
destroyed  by  the  wrench  in  associations,  when  the 


100 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ornament  is  severed  from  its  surface,  and  the  deco- 
ration of  a temple  exhibited  apart  from  the  temple 
itself.  We  may  admit,  then,  that  it  had  been  better 
if  Lord  Elgin  had  never  taken  away  these  marbles. 
Nevertheless,  it  would  be  absurd  to  send  them  back, 
as  has  recently  been  advocated  (in  1890)  by  some 
ignorant  English  sentimentalists.  But  I do  think 
that  the  museum  on  the  Acropolis  should  be  pro- 
vided with  a better  set  of  casts  of  the  figures  than 
those  which  are  now  to  be  seen  there.  They  look 
very  wretched,  and  carelessly  prepared. 

There  are,  indeed,  preserved  in  the  little  museum 
on  the  Acropolis  the  broken  remains  of  the  figures 
of  the  eastern  pediment,  which  Morosini  and  his 
Venetians  endeavored  to  take  down,  as  I have 
already  told.  They  are  little  more  than  pieces  of 
drapery,  of  some  use  in  reconstructing  the  composi- 
tion, but  of  none  in  judging  the  effect  of  that  famous 
group. 

But  we  must  not  yet  enter  into  this  little  museum, 
which  is  most  properly  put  out  of  sight,  at  the  low- 
est or  east  corner  of  the  rock,  and  which  we  do  not 
reach  till  we  have  passed  through  all  the  ruins.  As 
the  traveller  stands  at  the  inner  gate  of  the  Pro- 
pylsea,  he  notices  at  once  all  the  perfect  features  of 
the  buildings.  Over  his  head  are  the  enormous 
architrave-stones  of  the  Propylsea — blocks  of  white 
marble  over  twenty-two  feet  long,  which  span  the 
gateway  from  pillar  to  pillar.  Opposite,  above  him 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


101 


and  a little  to  the  right,  is  the  mighty  Parthenon, 
not  identical  in  orientation,  as  the  architects  have 
observed,  with  the  gateway,  but  varying  from  it 
slightly,  so  that  sun  and  shade  would  play  upon  it  at 
moments  differing  from  the  rest,  and  thus  produce  a 
perpetual  variety  of  lights.  This  principle  is  ob- 
served in  the  setting  of  the  Erectheum  also.  To 
the  left,  and  directly  over  the  town,  stands  that 
beautifully  decorated  little  Ionic  temple,  or  combina- 
tion of  temples,  with  the  stately  Caryatids  looking 
inwards  and  towards  the  Parthenon.  These  two 
buildings  are  the  most  perfect  examples  we  have  of 
their  respective  styles.  We  see  at  first  sight  the 
object  of  the  artists  who  built  them.  The  one  is 
the  embodiment  of  majesty,  the  other  of  grace. 
The  very  ornaments  of  the  Parthenon  are  large  and 
massive ; those  of  the  Erechtheum  for  the  most 
part  intricate  and  delicate.  Accordingly,  the  Par- 
thenon is  in  the  Doric  style,  or  rather  in  the  Doric 
style  so  refined  and  adorned  as  to  be  properly  called 
the  Attic  style. 

For  the  more  we  study  old  Athenian  art — nay, 
even  old  Athenian  character  generally — the  more 
are  we  convinced  that  its  greatness  consists  in  the 
combination  of  Doric  sternness  and  Ionic  grace. 
It  is  hardly  a mediation  between  them ; it  is  the 
adoption  of  the  finer  elements  of  both,  and  the 
union  of  them  into  a higher  harmony.  The  most 
obvious  illustration  of  this  is  the  drama,  where  the 


102 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Ionic  element  of  recitation  and  the  Doric  choral 
hymn  were  combined — and  let  me  observe  that  the 
Ionic  element  was  more  modified  than  the  Doric. 
In  the  same  way  Attic  architecture  used  the  strength 
and  majesty  of  the  older  style  which  we  see  at  Cor- 
inth and  Psestum ; but  relieved  it,  partly  by  lighter 
proportions,  partly  by  rich  decorations,  which  gave 
the  nearer  observer  an  additional  and  different  de- 
light, while  from  afar  the  large  features  were  of  the 
old  Doric  majesty.  Even  in  the  separate  decora- 
tions, such  as  the  metopes  and  friezes,  the  graceful 
women  and  the  long-flowing  draperies  of  the  Ionic 
school  were  combined  with  the  muscular  nakedness 
of  the  Doric  athlete,  as  represented  by  Doric 
masters.  Individual  Attic  masters  worked  out 
these  contrasted  types  completely,  as  we  may  see 
by  the  Discobolus  of  Myron,  a contemporary  of 
Phidias,  and  the  Apollo  Musagetes  of  Scopas,  who 
lived  somewhat  later.1 

In  fact,  all  Athenian  character,  in  its  best  days, 
combined  the  versatility,  and  luxury,  and  fondness 
of  pleasure,  which  marked  the  Ionian,  with  the 
energy,  the  public  spirit,  and  the  simplicity  which 
was  said  to  mark  the  better  Doric  states.  The  Par- 
thenon and  Erechtheum  express  all  this  in  visible 
clearness.  The  Athenians  felt  that  the  Ionic  ele- 
gance and  luxury  of  style  was  best  suited  to  a small 

1 I speak,  of  course,  of  the  copies  of  these  famous  statues  which 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  Vatican  Museum. 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


103 


building ; and  so  they  lavished  ornament  and  color 
upon  this  beautiful  little  house,  but  made  the  Doric 
temple  the  main  object  of  all  the  sacred  height. 

It  is  worth  while  to  consult  the  professional  archi- 
tects, like  Revett,1  who  have  examined  these  build- 
ings with  a critical  eye.  Not  only  were  the  old 
Athenian  architects  perfect  masters  of  their  mate- 
rials, of  accurate  measurement,  of  precise  cor- 
respondence, of  all  calculations  as  to  strain  and 
pressure — they  even  for  artistic,  as  well  as  for  prac- 
tical purposes,  deviated  systematically  from  accuracy, 
in  order  that  the  harmony  of  the  building  might 
profit  by  this  imperceptible  discord.  They  gave 
and  took,  like  a tuner  tempering  the  chords  of  a 
musical  instrument.  The  stylobate  is  not  exactly 
level,  but  curved  so  as  to  rise  four  inches  in  the 
centre ; the  pillars,  which  themselves  swell  slightly 
in  the  middle,  are  not  set  perpendicularly,  but  with 
a slight  incline  inwards  : and  this  effect  is  given  in 
the  Caryatids  by  making  them  rest  their  weight  on 

1 The  illustrated  work  of  Michaelis  is  probably  the  most  com- 
plete and  critical  account  both  of  the  plan  and  the  details,  which 
have  often  been  discussed,  and  especially  with  great  accuracy  by 
Mr.  Penrose,  whose  monumental  work,  the  Principles  of  Athenian 
Architecture , has  recently  been  republished.  Among  the  many 
newer  works,  T would  call  special  attention  to  the  first  volume  of 
Viollet-le-duc’s  Entretiens  sur  V Architecture,  already  translated  into 
English,  which  is  full  of  most  instructing  and  suggestive  observa- 
tions on  Greek  architecture;  also  to  M.  E.  Bournouf’s  Acropole 
d'Athenes. 


104 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  outer  foot  at  eaeli  corner,  as  Viollet-le-duc  has 
admirably  explained.  Again,  the  separation  of  the 
pillars  is  less  at  the  corners,  and  gradually  increases 
as  you  approach  the  centre  of  the  building.  The 
base  of  the  pediment  is  not  a right  line,  but  is 
curved  downward.  It  is  not  my  province  to  go  into 
minute  details  on  such  points,  which  can  only  be 
adequately  discussed  by  architects.  What  I have 
here  to  note  is,  that  the  old  Greek  builders  had  gone 
beyond  mere  mathematical  accuracy  and  regularity. 
They  knew  a higher  law  than  the  slavish  repetition 
of  accurate  distances  or  intervals ; they  had  learned 
to  calculate  effects,  to  allow  for  optical  illusions ; 
they  knew  how  to  sacrifice  real  for  ideal  sym- 
metry. 

The  sculptures  of  the  Parthenon  have  given  rise 
to  a very  considerable  literature — so  considerable 
that  the  books  and  treatises  upon  them  now  amount 
to  a respectable  library.  The  example  was  set  by 
the  architect  of  the  building  itself,  Ictinus,  who  wrote 
a special  treatise  on  his  masterpiece.  As  is  well 
known,  it  was  sketched  in  chalk  by  the  French 
painter,  Jacques  Carrey,  a few  years  before  the  ex- 
plosion of  1687 ; and  though  he  had  but  very  im- 
perfect notions  of  Greek  art,  and  introduced  a good 
deal  of  seventeenth  century  style  into  the  chaste 
designs  of  Phidias,  still  these  drawings,  of  which 
there  are  copies  in  the  British  Museum,  are  of  great 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


105 


value  in  helping  us  to  put  together  the  broken  and 
imperfect  fragments  which  remain.1 

The  sculptured  decorations  of  the  building  are  of 
three  kinds,  or  applied  in  three  distinct  places.  In 
the  first  place,  the  two  triangular  pediments  over  the 
east  and  west  front  were  each  filled  with  a group  of 
statues  more  than  life-size — the  one  representing 
the  birth  of  Athene,  and  the  other  her  contest  with 
Poseidon  for  the  patronage  of  Athens.  Some  of  the 
figures  from  one  of  these  are  the  great  draped  head- 
less women  in  the  centre  of  the  Parthenon  room  of 
the  British  Museum : other  fragments  of  those 
broken  by  the  Venetians  are  preserved  at  Athens. 
There  are,  secondly,  the  metopes , or  plaques  of  stone 
inserted  into  the  frieze  between  the  triglyphs,  and 
carved  in  relief  with  a single  small  group  on  each. 
The  height  of  these  surfaces  does  not  exceed  four 
feet.  There  was,  thirdly,  a band  of  reliefs  running 
all  around  the  external  wall  at  the  top  of  the  cella, 
inside  the  surrounding  pillars,  and  opposite  to  them, 
and  this  is  known  as  the  frieze  of  the  cella.  It  con- 
sists of  a great  Panathenaic  procession,  starting  from 
the  western  front,  and  proceeding  in  two  divisions 
along  the  parallel  north  and  south  walls,  till  they 
meet  on  the  eastern  front,  which  was  the  proper 
front  of  the  temple.  Among  the  Elgin  marbles 
there  are  a good  many  of  the  metopes,  and  also  of 

1 They  will  be  most  readily  consulted  in  the  plates  of  Michaelis’s 
Parthenon. 


106 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  pieces  of  the  cella  frieze  preserved.  Several 
other  pieces  of  the  frieze  are  preserved  at  Athens, 
and  altogether  we  can  reconstruct  fully  three-fourths 
of  this  magnificent  composition. 

There  seems  to  me  the  greatest  possible  difference 
in  merit  between  the  metopes  and  the  other  two 
parts  of  the  ornament.  The  majority  of  the  metopes 
which  I have  seen  represent  either  a Greek  and  an 
Amazon  or  a Centaur  and  Lapith,  in  violent  conflict. 
It  appeared  plainly  to  me  that  the  main  object  of 
these  contorted  groups  was  to  break  in  upon  the 
squareness  and  straightness  of  all  the  other  members 
of  the  Doric  frieze  and  architrave.  This  is  admir- 
ably done,  as  there  is  no  conceivable  design  which 
more  completely  breaks  the  stiff  rectangles  of  the 
entablature  than  the  various  and  violent  curves  of 
wrestling  figures.  But,  otherwise,  these  groups  do 
not  appear  to  me  very  interesting,  except  so  far  as 
everything  in  such  a place,  and  the  work  of  such 
hands,  must  be  interesting. 

It  is  very  different  with  the  others.  Of  these  the 
pediment  sculptures — which  were,  of  course,  the 
most  important,  and  which  were  probably  the  finest 
groups  ever  designed — are  so  much  destroyed  or 
mutilated  that  the  effect  of  the  composition  is  en- 
tirely lost,  and  we  can  only  admire  the  matchless 
power  and  grace  of  the  torsos  which  remain.  The 
grouping  of  the  figures  was  limited,  and  indicated 
by  the  triangular  shape  of  the  surface  to  be  deco- 


ATHENS- THE  ACROPOLIS. 


107 


rated — standing  figures  occupying  the  centre,  while 
recumbent  or  stooping  figures  occupied  the  ends. 
But,  as  in  poetry,  where  the  shackles  of  rhyme  and 
metre,  which  encumber  the  thoughts  of  ordinary 
writers,  are  the  very  source  which  produces  in  the 
true  poet  the  highest  and  most  precious  beauties  of 
expression  ; so  in  sculpture  and  painting,  fixed  con- 
ditions seem  not  to  injure,  but  to  enhance  and  per- 
fect, the  beauty  and  symmetry  attainable  in  the 
highest  art.  We  have  apparently  in  the  famous 
Niobe  group,  preserved  in  Florence,  the  elements 
of  a similar  composition,  perhaps  intended  to  fill 
the  triangular  tympanum  of  a temple ; and  even  in 
these  weak  Roman  copies  of  a Greek  masterpiece 
we  can  see  how  beautifully  the  limited  space  given 
to  the  sculpture  determined  the  beauty  and  variety 
of  the  figures,  and  their  attitudes.  It  was  in  this 
genius  of  grouping  that  I fancy  Phidias  chiefly 
excelled  all  his  contemporaries : single  statues  of 
Polycletus  are  said  to  have  been  preferred  in  com- 
petitions. To  us  the  art  of  the  Discobolus  of  Myron 
seems  fully  as  great  as  that  of  any  of  the  figures  of 
the  Parthenon  5 but  no  other  artist  seems  to  have 
possessed  the  same  architectonic  power  of  adapting 
large  subjects  and  processions  of  figures  to  their 
places  as  Phidias.1  How  far  he  was  helped  or 

1 The  discovery  of  the  figures  from  the  western  pediment  of 
the  temple  at  Olympia,  carved  by  Alcamenes,  a contemporary  of 
Phidias,  will  hardly  lead  us  to  modify  this  judgment.  For  though 


108 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


advised  by  Ictinus,  or  even  by  Pericles,  it  is  not 
easy  to  say.  But  I do  not  fancy  that  Greek  states- 
men in  those  days  studied  everything  else  in  the 
world  besides  statecraft,  and  were  known  as  anti- 
quaries, and  linguists,  and  connoisseurs  of  china  and 
paintings,  and  theologians,  and  novelists — in  fact, 
everything  under  the  sun.  This  many-sidedness, 
as  they  now  call  it,  which  the  Greeks  called  noko- 
TrpuyfioawTj,  and  thought  to  be  meddlesomeness,  was 
not  likely  to  infect  Pericles.  He  was  very  intimate 
with  Phidias,  and  is  said  to  have  constantly  watched 
his  work — hardly,  I fancy,  as  an  adviser,  but  rather 
as  an  humble  and  enthusiastic  admirer  of  an  art  which 
did  realize  its  ideal,  while  he  himself  was  striving  in 
vain  with  rebel  forces  to  attain  his  object  in  politics. 

The  extraordinary  power  of  grouping  in  the 
designs  of  Phidias  is,  however,  very  completely 
shown  us  in  the  better  preserved  band  of  the  cella 
frieze,  along  which  the  splendid  Panathenaic  pro- 
cession winds  its  triumphal  way.  Over  the  eastern 
doorway  were  twelve  noble  sitting  figures  on  either 
side  of  the  officiating  priest,  presenting  the  state 
robe,  or  pcplos , for  the  vestment  of  Athene.  These 
figures  are  explained  as  gods  by  the  critics;  but 
they  do  not  in  either  beauty  or  dignity,  excel  those 


they  show  a great  talent  in  the  composition,  the  defects  in  exe- 
cution are  so  grave  as  to  lead  many  critics  to  suspect  that  we  have 
in  them  the  work  of  mere  local  artists,  certainly  not  the  masterful 
hands  that  adorned  the  Parthenon. 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


109 


of  many  of  the  Athenians  forming  the  procession. 
A very  fine  slab,  containing  three  of  these  figures, 
is  now  to  be  seen  in  the  little  museum  in  the  Acropo- 
lis. This  group  over  the  main  entrance  is  the  end 
and  summary  of  all  the  procession,  and  corresponds 
with  the  yearly  ceremony  in  this  way,  that,  as  the 
state  entrance,  or  Propylsea,  led  into  the  Acropolis 
at  the  west  end,  or  rear  of  the  Parthenon,  the  pro- 
cession in  all  probability  separated  into  two,  which 
went  along  both  sides  of  the  colonnade,  and  met 
again  at  the  eastern  door.  Accordingly,  over  the 
western  end,  or  rear,  the  first  preparations  of  the 
procession  are  being  made,  which  then  starts  along 
the  north  and  south  walls ; the  southern  being  chiefly 
occupied  with  the  cavalcade  of  the  Athenian  knights, 
the  northern  with  the  carrying  of  sacred  vessels 
and  leading  of  victims  for  the  sacrifice.  The  frieze 
over  the  western  door  is  still  in  its  place  ; but,  hav- 
ing lost  its  bright  coloring,  and  being  in  any  case 
at  a great  height,  and  only  visible  from  close  under- 
neath, on  account  of  the  pillars  and  architrave  in 
front,  it  produces  no  effect,  and  is  hardly  discernible. 
Indeed  it  evidently  was  never  more  than  an  archi- 
tectural ornament,  in  spite  of  all  its  artistic  beauty. 

The  greater  number  of  the  pieces  carried  away  by 
Lord  Elgin  seem  taken  from  the  equestrian  portion, 
in  which  groups  of  cantering  and  curveting  horses, 
and  men  in  the  act  of  mounting,  and  striving  to 
curb  restive  steeds,  are  brought  together  with  extra- 


1 JO 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ordinary  effect.  We  can  see  plainly  how  important 
a part  of  Athenian  splendor  depended  upon  their 
knights,  and  how  true  are  the  hints  of  Aristo- 
phanes about  their  social  standing  and  aristocratic 
tone.  The  reins  and  armor,  or  at  least  portions  of 
it,  were  laid  on  in  metal,  and  have  accordingly  been 
long  since  plundered ; nor  has  any  obvious  trace 
remained  of  the  rich  colors  with  which  the  whole 
was  painted.  There  appears  no  systematic  uniform, 
some  of  the  riders  being  dressed  in  helmets  and 
cuirasses,  some  in  felt  wide-awakes,  and  short  flying- 
cloaks.  It  must  remain  uncertain  whether  the 
artist  did  not  seek  to  obtain  variety  by  this  devia- 
tion from  a fixed  dress.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
Greek  art  was  very  bold  and  free  in  such  matters. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  type  of  the  faces  does  not 
exhibit  much  variety.  At  the  elevation  above  the 
spectator  which  this  frieze  occupied,  individual  ex- 
pression would  have  been  thrown  away  on  figures  of 
three  feet  in  height : the  general  dress,  and  the  atti- 
tudes, may  have  been,  when  colored,  easily  discernible. 

But  I confess  that  this  equestrian  procession  does 
not  appear  to  me  so  beautiful  as  the  rows  of  figures  on 
foot  (carrying  pitchers  and  other  implements,  leading- 
victims,  and  playing  pipes),  which  seem  to  come 
from  the  north  wall,  and  of  which  the  most  beautiful 
slabs  are  preserved  at  Athens.  Here  we  can  see 
best  of  all  that  peculiar  stamp  which  shows  the  age 
of  Phidias  to  have  been  the  most  perfect  in  the  whole 


-ft* 


Part  of  the  West  Frieze  of  the  Parthenon,  Athens 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


Ill 


of  Greek  sculpture.  This  statement  will  not  be 
accepted  readily  by  the  general  public.  The  Apollo 
Belvedere,  the  Capitoline  Venus,  the  Dying  Gladia- 
tor— these  are  what  we  have  been  usually  taught  to 
regard  as  the  greatest  wonders  of  Greek  plastic  art ; 
and  those  who  have  accustomed  themselves  to  this 
realistic  and  sensuous  beauty  will  not  easily  see  the 
greatness  and  the  perfection  of  the  solemn  and  chaste 
art  of  Phidias. 

Nevertheless,  it  will  always  be  held  by  men  who 
have  thought  long  enough  on  the  subject,  that  the 
epoch  when  Myron  and  Phidias,  Polycletus  and 
Polygnotus,  broke  loose  from  archaic  stiffness  into 
flowing  grace  was,  indeed,  the  climax  of  the  arts. 
There  seems  a sort  of  natural  law — of  slow  and 
painful  origin — of  growing  development — of  sudden 
bloom  into  perfection — of  luxury  and  effeminacy — 
of  gradual  debasement  and  decay — -which  affects 
almost  all  the  arts  as  well  as  most  of  the  growths 
of  nature.  In  Greek  art  particularly  this  phenom- 
enon perpetually  reappears.  There  can  be  little 
doubt  that  the  Iliad  of  Homer  was  the  first  and 
earliest  long  creation  in  poetry,  the  first  attempt, 
possibly  with  the  aid  of  writing,  to  rise  from  short 
disconnected  lays  to  the  greatness  of  a formal  epic. 
And  despite  all  its  defects  of  plan,  its  want  of  firm 
consistency,  and  its  obvious  incongruities,  this  great- 
est of  all  poems  has  held  its  place  against  the  more 
finished  and  interesting  ( )dyssey,  the  more  elaborated 


112 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Cyclic  poems,  the  more  learned  Alexandrian  epics — 
in  fact,  the  first  full  bloom  of  the  art  was  by  far  the 
most  perfect.  It  is  the  same  thing  with  Greek 
tragedy.  No  sooner  had  the  art  escaped  from  the 
rude  wagon,  or  stage,  or  whatever  it  was,  of  Thespis, 
than  we  find  iEschylus,  with  imperfect  appliances, 
with  want  of  experience,  with  many  crudenesses  and 
defects,  a tragic  poet  never  equalled  again  in  Greek 
history.  Of  course  the  modern  critics  of  his  own 
country  preferred,  first  Sophocles,  and  then  Euripides 
— great  poets,  as  Praxiteles  and  Lysippus  were  great 
sculptors,  and  like  them,  perhaps,  greater  masters  of 
human  passion  and  of  soul-stirring  pathos.  But  for 
all  that,  iEschylus  is  the  tragic  poet  of  the  Greeks 
— the  poet  who  has  reached  beyond  his  age  and 
nation,  and  fascinated  the  greatest  men  even  of  our 
century,  who  seek  not  to  turn  back  upon  his  great 
but  not  equal  rivals.  Shelley  and  Mr.  Swinburne 
have  both  made  iEschylus  their  master,  and  to  his 
inspiration  owe  the  most  splendid  of  their  works. 

I will  not  prosecute  these  considerations  further, 
though  there  may  be  other  examples  in  the  history 
of  art.  But  I will  say  this  much  concerning  the 
psychological  reasons  of  so  strange  a phenomenon. 
It  may,  of  course,  be  assumed  that  the  man  who 
breaks  through  the  old,  stiff  conventional  style 
which  has  bound  his  predecessors  with  its  shackles 
is  necessarily  a man  of  strong  and  original  genius. 
Thus,  when  we  are  distinctly  told  of  Polygnotus  that 


ATHENS — THE  ACROPOLIS. 


113 


he  first  began  to  vary  the  features  of  the  human 
face  from  their  archaic  stiffness,  we  have  before  us 
a man  of  bold  originality,  who  quarrelled  with  the 
tradition  of  centuries,  and  probably  set  against  him 
all  the  prejudices  and  the  consciences  of  the  graver 
public.  But  to  us,  far  different  features  seem  promi- 
nent. For  in  spite  of  all  his  boldness,  when  we 
compare  him  with  his  forerunners,  we  are  struck 
with  his  modesty  and  devoutness,  as  compared  with 
his  successors.  There  is  in  him,  first,  a devoutness 
toward  his  work,  an  old-fashioned  piety,  which  they 
had  not ; and  as  art  in  this  shape  is  almost  always 
a handmaid  of  religion,  this  devoutness  is  a prom- 
inent feature.  Next,  there  is  a certain  reticence  and 
modesty  in  such  a man,  which  arises  partly  from  the 
former  feeling,  but  still  more  from  a conservative 
fear  of  violent  change,  and  a healthy  desire  to  make 
his  work  not  merely  a contrast  to,  but  a develop- 
ment of,  the  older  traditions.  Then  the  old  draped 
goddess  of  religious  days,  such  as  the  Venus  Genitrix 
in  Florence,  made  way  for  the  splendid  but  yet  more 
human  handling  which  we  may  see  in  the  Venus  of 
Melos,  now  in  the  Louvre.  This  half-draped  but 
yet  thoroughly  new  and  chaste  conception  leads 
naturally  to  the  type  said  to  have  been  first  dared 
by  Praxiteles,  who  did  not  disguise  the  use  of  very 
unworthy  human  models  to  produce  his  famous,  or 
perhaps  infamous  ideal,  which  is  best  known  in  the 
Venus  de  Medici , but  perhaps  more  perfectly  repre- 
8 


114 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sented  in  the  Venus  of  the  Capitol.  There  is,  too,  in 
the  earlier  artist  that  limited  mastery  over  materials, 
which,  like  the  laws  of  the  poet’s  language,  only 
condenses  and  intensifies  the  beauty  of  his  work. 

Such  reserve,  as  compared  with  the  later  phases 
of  the  art,  is  nowhere  so  strongly  shown  as  in  the 
matter  of  expression.  This  is,  indeed,  the  rock  on 
which  most  arts  have  ultimately  made  shipwreck. 
When  the  power  over  materials  and  effects  becomes 
complete,  so  that  the  artist  can  as  it  were  perform 
feats  of  conquest ; when  at  the  same  time  the  feeling 
has  died  out  that  he  is  treading  upon  holy  ground, 
we  have  splendid  achievements  in  the  way  of  intense 
expression,  whether  physical  or  mental,  of  force,  of 
momentary  action,  of  grief  or  joy,  which  are  good 
and  great,  but  which  lead  imitators  into  a false 
track,  and  so  ruin  the  art  which  they  were  thought 
to  perfect.  Thus  over-reaching  itself,  art  becomes 
an  anxious  striving  after  display,  and,  like  an 
affected  and  meretricious  woman,  repels  the  sounder 
natures  which  had  else  been  attracted  by  her  beauty. 
In  Greek  art  especially,  as  I have  already  noticed 
in  discussing  the  Attic  tomb  reliefs,  this  excess  of 
expression  was  long  and  well  avoided,  and  there  is 
no  stronger  and  more  marked  feature  in  its  good 
epochs  than  the  reserve  of  which  I have  spoken. 
It  is  the  chief  quality  which  makes  the  school  of 
Phidias  matchless.  There  is  in  it  beauty  of  form, 
there  is  a good  deal  of  action,  there  is  in  the  frieze 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


115 


an  almost  endless  variety ; but  withal  there  is  the 
strictest  symmetry,  the  closest  adherence  to  fixed 
types,  the  absence  of  all  attempt  at  expressing  pass- 
ing emotion.  There  is  still  the  flavor  of  the  old 
stiff  simplicity  about  the  faces,  about  the  folds  of 
the  robes,  about  the  type  of  the  horses ; but  the 
feeling  of  the  artist  shines  through  the  archaic 
simplicity  with  much  clearer  light  than  it  does  in 
the  more  ambitious  attempts  of  the  later  school. 
The  greatest  works  of  Phidias — his  statue  of  Zeus 
at  Elis,  and  his  Athene  in  the  Parthenon — are  lost 
to  us ; but  the  ancients  are  unanimous  that  for 
simple  and  sustained  majesty  no  succeeding  sculptor, 
however  brilliant,  had  approached  his  ideal.1 

We  may  say  almost  the  same  of  the  great  temple 
which  he  adorned  with  his  genius.  It  is  just  that 
perfection  of  the  Doric  temple  which  has  escaped 
from  the  somewhat  ponderous  massiveness  and  sim- 
plicity of  the  older  architecture,  while  it  sacrificed 
no  element  of  majesty  to  that  grace  and  delicacy 
which  marks  later  and  more  developed  Greek  archi- 
tecture. On  this  Acropolis  the  Athenians  deter- 
mined to  show  what  architecture  could  reach  in 
majesty  and  what  in  delicacy.  So  they  set  up  the 

1 It  is  very  uncertain,  perhaps  unlikely,  that  any  of  the  archi- 
tectural sculpture  we  possess  was  actually  finished  by  Phidias’s  own 
hand.  But  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  directed  it,  and  must 
have  designed  much  of  it  in  detail,  since  the  general  composition 
was  certainly  his  creation. 


116 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Parthenon  in  that  absolute  perfection  where  strength 
and  solidity  come  out  enhanced,  but  in  no  way  over- 
laid, with  ornament.  They  also  built  the  Erech- 
theum,  where  they  adopted  the  Ionic  Order,  and 
covered  their  entablature  with  bands  of  small  and 
delicate  tracing,  which,  with  its  gilding  and  coloring, 
was  a thing  to  be  studied  minutely  and  from  the 
nearest  distance.  Though  the  inner  columns  of  the 
Propylsea  were  Ionic  (and  they  were  very  large),  it 
appears  that  large  temples  in  that  Order  were  not 
known  in  Attica.  But  for  small  and  graceful  build- 
ings it  was  commonly  used,  and  of  these  the  Erech- 
theum  was  the  most  perfect. 

In  its  great  days,  and  even  as  Pausanias  saw  it, 
the  Acropolis  was  covered  with  statues,  as  well  as 
with  shrines.  It  was  not  merely  an  Holy  of  Holies 
in  religion ; it  was  also  a palace  and  museum  of  art. 
At  every  step  and  turn  the  traveller  met  new  objects 
of  interest.  There  were  archaic  specimens,  chiefly 
interesting  to  the  antiquarian  and  the  devotee ; there 
were  the  great  masterpieces  which  were  the  joint 
admiration  of  the  artist  and  the  vulgar.  Even  all 
the  sides  and  slopes  of  the  great  rock  were  honey- 
combed into  sacred  grottos,  with  their  altars  and 
their  gods,  or  studded  with  votive  monuments.  All 
these  lesser  things  are  fallen  away  and  gone  j the 
sacred  caves  are  filled  with  rubbish  and  desecrated 
with  worse  than  neglect.  The  grotto  of  Pan  and 
Apollo  is  difficult  of  access,  and  was,  when  I first 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


117 


saw  it,  an  object  of  disgust  rather  than  of  interest. 
There  are  left  but  the  remnants  of  the  surrounding 
wall,  and  the  ruins  of  the  three  principal  buildings, 
which  were  the  envy  and  wonder  of  all  the  civilized 
world. 

The  walls  are  particularly  well  worth  studying, 
as  there  are  to  be  found  in  them  specimens  of  all 
kinds  of  building,  beginning  from  prehistoric  times. 
There  is  even  plain  evidence  that  the  builders  of  the 
age  of  Pericles  were  not  by  any  means  the  best  wall 
builders ; for  the  masonry  of  the  wall  called  the 
Wall  of  Themistocles,  which  is  well  preserved  in 
the  lowest  part  of  the  course  along  the  north  slope, 
is  by  far  the  most  beautifully  finished  work  of  the 
kind  which  can  anywhere  be  seen : and  it  seems  to 
correspond  accurately  to  the  lower  strata  of  the 
foundations  on  which  the  Parthenon  was  built.  The 
builders  of  Pericles’s  time  added  a couple  of  layers 
of  stone  to  raise  the  site  of  the  temple,  and  their 
work  contrasts  curiously  in  its  roughness  with  the 
older  platform.  Any  one  who  will  note  the  evident 
admiration  of  Thucydides  for  the  walls  built  round 
the  Peirseus  by  the  men  of  an  earlier  generation  will 
see  good  reason  for  this  feeling  when  they  examine 
these  details. 

The  beautiful  little  temple  of  Athena  Nike,  though 
outside  the  Propylsea — thrust  out  as  it  were  on  a 
sort  of  great  bastion  high  on  the  right  as  you  enter 
— must  still  be  called  a part,  and  a very  striking 


118 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


part,  of  the  Acropolis.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that 
the  site  has  been  cleared  of  rubbish  and  modern 
stonework,  and  the  temple  rebuilt  from  the  original 
materials,  thus  destroying,  no  doubt,  some  precious 
traces  of  Turkish  occupation  which  the  fastidious 
historian  may  regret,  but  realizing  to  us  a beautiful 
Greek  temple  of  the  Ionic  Order  in  some  complete- 
ness. The  peculiarity  of  this  building,  which  is 
perched  upon  a platform  of  stone  and  commands  a 
splendid  prospect,  is,  that  its  tiny  peribolus,  or 
sacred  enclosure,  was  surrounded  by  a parapet  of 
stone  slabs  covered  with  exquisite  reliefs  of  winged 
Victories,  in  various  attitudes.  Some  of  these  slabs 
are  now  in  the  Museum  of  the  Acropolis,  and  are  of 
great  interest — apparently  less  severe  than  the 
school  of  Phidias,  and  therefore  later  in  date,  but 
still  of  the  best  epoch  and  of  marvellous  grace. 
The  position  of  this  temple  also  is  not  parallel  with 
the  Propylsea,  but  turned  slightly  outward,  so  that 
the  light  strikes  it  at  moments  when  the  other  build- 
ing is  not  illuminated.  At  the  opposite  side  is  a 
very  well  preserved  chamber,  and  a tine  colonnade 
at  right  angles  with  the  gate,  which  looks  like  a 
guard-room.  This  is  the  chamber  commonly  called 
the  Pinacotheca,  where  Pausanias  saw  pictures  of 
frescoes  by  Polygnotus. 

Of  the  two  museums  on  the  Acropolis,  the  princi- 
pal one  requires  little  comment  and  is  very  easily 
seen  and  appreciated.  In  an  ante-room  are  the 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


119 


archaic  figures  of  which  I have  already  spoken, 
with  the  remains  taken  from  about  the  Parthenon, 
together  with  casts  of  the  Elgin  marbles,  and  many 
small  and  beautiful  reliefs,  apparently  belonging  to 
votive  monuments.  There  are  also  two  figures  of 
young  men,  with  the  heads  and  feet  lost,  which  are 
of  peculiarly  beautiful  Parian  marble,  and  of  very 
fine  workmanship.  But  the  visitor  is  very  likely 
to  pass  by  the  little  Turkish  house,  which  is  well 
worth  a visit,  for  here  are  the  cypress  plugs  from 
the  pillars  of  the  Parthenon  or  Propylsea ; here  are 
also  splendid  specimens  of  archaic  vases,  such  as  are 
very  hard  indeed  to  find  in  any  other  collection. 
The  large  jars  from  Melos  which  are  here  to  be 
seen  have  the  most  striking  resemblance  in  their 
decoration  to  the  fragment  of  a similar  vessel,  with 
a row  of  armed  figures  round  it,  which  was  found 
at  Mycense,  and  is  now  in  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction.  Lastly,  there  stands  in  the  window  a 
very  delicately  worked  little  Satyr,  as  the  pointed 
ears  and  tail  show,  but  of  voluptuous  form — rather 
of  the  hermaphrodite  type : there  is  hardly  a better 
preserved  statuette  than  this  anywhere  at  Athens. 
It  seemed  a pity  that  such  a gem  should  be  hidden 
away  in  so  obscure  a place ; and  I hope  that  by  this 
time  it  has  been  brought  into  the  larger  and  official 
museum. 

I will  venture  to  conclude  this  chapter  with  a curi- 
ous comparison.  It  was  my  good  fortune,  a few 


120 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


months  after  I had  seen  the  Acropolis,  to  visit  a 
rock  in  Ireland,  which,  to  my  great  surprise,  bore 
many  curious  analogies  to  it — I mean  the  rock  of 
Cashel.  Both  were  strongholds  of  religion — hon- 
ored and  hallowed  above  all  other  places  in  their 
respective  countries — both  were  covered  with  build- 
ings of  various  dates,  each  representing  peculiar 
ages  and  styles  in  art.  And  as  the  Greeks,  I sup- 
pose for  effect’s  sake,  have  varied  the  posture  of 
their  temples,  so  that  the  sun  illumines  them  at  dif- 
ferent moments,  the  old  Irish  have  varied  the  orien- 
tation of  their  churches  that  the  sun  might  rise 
directly  over  against  the  east  window  on  the  anni- 
versary of  the  patron  saint.  There  is  at  Cashel  the 
great  Cathedral — in  loftiness  and  grandeur  the  Par- 
thenon of  the  place ; there  is  the  smaller  and  more 
beautiful  Cormac’s  Chapel,  the  holiest  of  all,  like 
the  Erechtheum  at  Athens.  Again,  the  great  sanc- 
tuary upon  the  Rock  of  Cashel  was  surrounded  by 
a cluster  of  abbeys  about  its  base,  which  were 
founded  there  by  pious  men  on  account  of  the  great- 
ness and  holiness  of  the  archiepiscopal  seat.  Of 
these,  one  remains,  like  the  Theseum  at  Athens, 
eclipsed  by  the  splendor  of  the  Acropolis. 

The  prospect  from  the  Irish  sanctuary  has,  indeed, 
endless  contrasts  to  that  from  the  pagan  stronghold, 
but  they  are  suggestive  contrasts,  and  such  as  are 
not  without  a certain  harmony.  The  plains  around 
both  are  framed  by  mountains,  of  which  the  Irish 


ATHENS— THE  ACROPOLIS. 


121 


are  probably  the  more  picturesque ; and  if  the  light 
upon  the  Greek  hills  is  the  fairest,  the  native  color 
of  the  Irish  is  infinitely  more  rich.  So,  again,  the 
soil  of  Attica  is  light  and  dusty,  whereas  the  Golden 
Yale  of  Tipperary  is  among  the  richest  and  greenest 
in  the  world.  Still,  both  places  were  the  noblest 
homes,  each  in  their  own  country,  of  religions  which 
civilized,  humanized,  and  exalted  the  human  race  j 
and  if  the  Irish  Acropolis  is  left  in  dim  obscurity 
by  the  historical  splendor  of  the  Parthenon,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  gods  of  the  Athenian  stronghold 
have  faded  out  before  the  moral  greatness  of  the 
faith  preached  from  the  Pock  of  Cashel. 


CHAPTER  V. 


ATHENS — THE  THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS — THE  ARE- 
OPAGUS. 

There  are  few  recent  excavations  about  Athens 
which  have  been  so  productive  as  those  along  the 
south  slope  of  the  Acropolis.  In  the  conflicts  and 
the  wear  of  ages  a vast  quantity  of  earth,  and  walls, 
and  fragments  of  buildings  has  either  been  cast,  or 
has  rolled,  down  this  steep  descent,  so  that  it  was 
with  a certainty  of  good  results  that  the  Archeo- 
logical Society  of  Athens  undertook  to  clear  this  side 
of  the  rock  of  all  the  accumulated  rubbish.  Sev- 
eral precious  inscriptions  were  found,  which  had 
been  thrown  down  from  the  rock ; and  in  April, 
1884,  the  whole  plan  of  the  temple  of  iEsculapius 
had  been  uncovered,  and  another  step  attained  in 
fixing  the  much  disputed  topography  of  this  part  of 
Athens. 

And  yet  we  can  hardly  call  this  a beginning. 
Some  twenty-five  years  ago,  a very  extensive  and 
splendidly  successful  excavation  was  made  on  an  ad- 
joining site,  when  a party  of  German  archaeologists 
laid  bare  the  Theatre  of  Dionysus — the  great  theatre 
in  which  iEschylus,  Sophocles,  and  Euripides  brought 
122 


Theatre  of  Dionysus,  Athens 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


123 


out  their  immortal  plays  before  an  immortal  audi- 
ence. There  is  nothing  more  delightful  than  to  de- 
scend from  the  Acropolis,  and  rest  awhile  in  the 
comfortable  marble  arm-chairs  with  which  the  front 
row  of  the  circuit  is  occupied.  They  are  of  the 
pattern  usual  with  the  sitting  portrait  statues  of 
the  Greeks — very  deep,  and  with  a curved  back, 
which  exceeds  both  in  comfort  and  in  grace  any 
chairs  designed  by  modern  workmen.1  Each  chair 
has  the  name  of  a priest  inscribed  on  it,  showing 
how  the  theatre  among  the  Greeks  corresponded  to 
our  cathedral,  and  this  front  row  to  the  stalls  of 
canons  and  prebendaries. 

But  unfortunately  all  this  sacerdotal  prominence 
is  probably  the  work  of  the  later  restorers  of  the 
theatre.  For  after  having  been  first  beautified  and 
adorned  with  statues  by  Lycurgus  (in  Demosthenes’s 
time),  it  was  again  restored  and  embellished  by 
Herodes  Atticus,  or  about  his  time,  so  that  the  the- 
atre, as  we  now  have  it,  can  only  be  called  the 
building  of  the  second  or  third  century  after  Christ. 
The  front  wall  of  the  stage,  which  is  raised  some 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  empty  pit,  is  adorned 
with  a row  of  very  elegant  sculptures,  amongst 
which  one — a shaggy  old  man,  in  a stooping  posture, 


1 This  very  pattern,  in  mahogany,  with  cane  seats,  and  adapted, 
like  all  Greek  chairs,  for  loose  cushions,  was  often  used  in  eigh- 
teenth century  work,  and  may  still  be  found  in  old  Irish  mansions 
furnished  at  that  epoch. 


124 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


represented  as  coming  out  from  within,  and  holding 
up  the  stone  above  him — is  particularly  striking. 
Some  Greek  is  said  to  have  knocked  off,  by  way  of 
amusement,  the  heads  of  most  of  these  figures  since 
they  were  discovered,  but  this  I do  not  know  upon 
any  better  authority  than  ordinary  report.  The  pit 
or  centre  of  the  theatre  is  empty,  and  was  never  in 
Greek  days  occupied  by  seats,  but  a wooden  struct- 
ure was  set  up  in  advance  of  the  stage,  and  on  this 
the  chorus  performed  their  dances  and  sang  their 
odes.  But  now  there  is  a circuit  of  upright  slabs 
of  stone  close  to  the  front  seats,  which  can  hardly 
have  been  an  arrangement  of  the  old  Greek  theatre. 
They  are  generally  supposed  to  have  been  added 
when  the  building  came  to  be  used  for  contests  of 
gladiators,  which  Dion  Chrysostom  tells  us  were  im- 
ported from  Corinth  in  his  day. 

All  these  later  additions  and  details  are,  I fear, 
calculated  to  detract  from  the  reader’s  interest  in 
this  theatre,  which  I should  indeed  regret — for 
nothing  can  be  more  certain  than  that  this  is  the 
veritable  stone  theatre  which  was  built  when  the 
wooden  one  broke  down,  at  the  great  competition  of 
iEschylus  and  Pratinas ; and  though  front  seats  may 
have  been  added,  and  slight  modifications  introduced, 
the  general  structure  can  never  have  required  alter- 
ation. The  main  body  of  the  curved  rows  of  seats 
have  no  backs,  but  are  so  deep  as  to  leave  plenty  of 
room  for  the  feet  of  the  people  next  above ; and  I 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


125 


fancy  that  in  the  old  times  the  npoeopia  or  right  of 
sitting  in  the  front  rows  was  not  given  to  priests, 
but  to  foreign  embassies,  along  with  the  chief  magis- 
trates of  Athens.  The  cost  of  admission  was  two 
obols  to  all  the  seats  of  the  house  not  specially  re- 
served, and  such  reservation  was  only  for  persons 
of  official  rank,  and  by  no  means  for  richer  people, 
or  for  a higher  entrance  money — a thing  which 
would  not  have  been  tolerated,  I believe,  for  an 
instant  by  the  Athenian  democracy.1  When  the 
state  treasury  grew  full  with  the  tribute  of  the  sub- 
ject cities,  the  citizens  had  this  sum,  and  at  times 
even  more,  distributed  to  them  in  order  that  no  one 
might  be  excluded  from  the  annual  feast,  and  so  the 
whole  free  population  of  Athens  came  together  with- 
out expense  to  worship  the  gods  by  enjoying  them- 
selves in  this  great  theatre. 

It  is  indeed  very  large,  though  exaggerated  state- 
ments have  been  made  about  its  size.  It  is  gener- 
ally stated  that  the  enormous  number  of  thirty 
thousand  people  could  fit  into  it — a statement  I think 
incredible  ;2  and  it  is  not  nearly  as  large  as  other 

1 I state  this  because  many  critics  have  drawn  an  opposite  infer- 
ence from  a mistranslation  of  a passage  in  Plato  ( Apol . 26,  E). 

2 The  exact  number,  according  to  Papadakis  (cf.  A.  Muller, 
Buhnenalt,  p.  47),  is  stated  at  27,500.  But  I am  convinced  this  is 
a great  exaggeration.  I should  rather  give  15,000  as  a liberal 
estimate;  and  this  agrees  with  the  measurements  made  for  me 
by  Dr.  Dorpfeld  in  1889.  This  mistake  is  also  due  to  mis- 
understanding a passage  in  Plato’s  Symposium,  which  says  that 


126 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


theatres  I have  seen,  at  Syracuse,  at  Megalopolis,  or 
even  at  Argos.  This  also  is  certain,  that  any  one 
speaking  on  the  stage,  as  it  now  is,  can  be  easily 
and  distinctly  heard  by  people  sitting  on  the  highest 
row  of  seats  now  visible,  which  cannot,  I fancy, 
have  been  far  from  the  original  top  of  the  house. 
Such  a thing  were  impossible  where  thirty  thousand 
people,  or  a crowd  approaching  that  number,  were 
seated.  We  hear,  however,  that  the  old  actors  had 
recourse  to  various  artificial  means  of  increasing  the 
range  of  their  voices,  which  shows  that  in  some 
theatres  the  difficulty  was  felt  j and  in  the  extant 
plays,  asides  are  so  rare  1 that  it  must  have  been  dif- 
ficult to  give  them  with  effect. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  voice  must  have  been 
more  easily  heard  through  the  old  house  than  it  now 
is  through  the  ruins.  The  back  of  the  stage  was 
built  up  with  a high  wooden  structure  to  represent 
fixed  scenes,  and  even  a sort  of  upper  story  on  which 
gods  and  flying  figures  sometimes  appeared — an 
arrangement  which  of  course  threw  the  voice  for- 
ward into  the  theatre.  There  used  to  be  an  old 
idea,  not  perhaps  yet  extinct,  that  the  Greek  audi- 
ences had  the  lovely  natural  scenery  of  their  country 
for  their  stage  decoration,  and  that  they  embraced  in 
one  view  the  characters  on  the  stage,  and  the  coasts 

“ Agathon,  whom  30,000  citizens  hear ”.  It  is  not  said  that 

they  heard  him  at  the  same  time. 

1 Cf.  on  this  point  my  History  of  Greek  Literature,  i.  p.  345. 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


127 


and  islands  for  miles  behind  them.  Nothing  can  be 
more  absurd,  or  more  opposed  to  Greek  feeling  on 
such  matters.  In  the  first  place,  as  is  well  known, 
a feeling  for  the  beauty  of  landscape  as  such  was 
almost  foreign  to  the  Greeks,  who  never  speak  of 
the  picturesque  in  their  literature  without  special 
relation  to  the  sounds  of  nature,  or  to  the  intelli- 
gences which  were  believed  to  pervade  and  animate 
it : a fine  view  as  such  had  little  attraction  for  them. 
In  the  second  place,  they  came  to  the  theatre  to 
enjoy  poetry,  and  the  poetry  of  character,  of  pas- 
sion, of  the  relation  of  man  and  his  destiny  to  the 
course  of  Divine  Providence  and  Divine  justice — in 
short,  to  assume  a frame  of  mind  perfectly  incon- 
sistent with  the  distractions  of  landscape.  For  that 
purpose  they  had  their  stage,  as  we  now  know,  filled 
in  at  the  back  with  high  painted  scenes,  which 
in  earlier  days  were  made  of  light  woodwork  and 
canvas,  to  bear  easy  removal,  or  change,  but  which 
in  most  Graeco-Roman  theatres,  like  the  very  per- 
fect one  at  Aspendus,  or  indeed  that  of  Herodes 
Atticus  close  by  at  Athens,  were  a solid  structure 
of  at  least  two  stories  high,  which  absolutely  ex- 
cluded all  prospect. 

But  even  had  the  Athenians  not  been  protected 
by  this  arrangement  from  outer  disturbance,  I found 
by  personal  investigation  that  there  was  no  view  for 
them  to  enjoy  ! Except  from  the  highest  tiers,  and 
therefore  from  the  worst  places,  the  sea  and  islands 


128 


RAMBLES  IX  GREECE. 


are  not  visible,  and  the  only  view  to  be  obtained, 
supposing  that  houses  did  not  obstruct  it,  would 
have  been  the  dull,  somewhat  bleak,  undulating 
hills  which  stretch  between  the  theatre  and  Pha- 
lerum. 

The  back  scenes  of  the  Greek  theatres  were 
painted  as  ours  are,  and  at  first,  I suppose,  very 
rudely  indeed,  for  we  hear  particularly  of  a certain 
Agatharchus,  who  developed  the  art  of  scene-paint- 
ing by  adopting  perspective.1  The  other  appurte- 
nances of  the  Greek  theatre  were  equally  rude,  or 
perhaps  I should  say  equally  stiff  and  conventional, 
and  removed  from  any  attempt  to  reproduce  ordinary 
life — at  least  this  was  the  case  with  their  tragedy, 
their  satyric  dramas,  and  their  older  comedy,  which 
dealt  in  masks,  in  fixed  stage  dresses,  in  tragic  pad- 
ding, and  stuffing-out  to  an  unnatural  size,  in  comic 
distortions  and  indecent  emblems — in  all  manner  of 
conventional  ugliness,  we  should  say,  handed  down 
from  the  first  religious  origin  of  these  performances, 
and  maintained  with  that  strict  conservatism  which 
marks  the  course  of  all  great  Greek  art.  The  stage 
was  long  and  narrow,  the  means  of  changing  scenes 
cumbrous  and  not  frequently  employed  ; the  number 
of  the  actors  in  tragedy  strictly  limited — four  is 
an  unusual  number,  exceptionally  employed  in  the 
second  CEclipus  of  Sophocles.  In  fact,  we  cannot 

1 Cf.  on  the  details  of  Greek  painting  the  last  chapter  of  my 
Social  Life  in  Greece. 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


129 


say  that  the  Greek  drama  ever  became  externally 
like  ours  till  the  comedies  of  Menander  and  his 
school.  These  poets,  living  in  an  age  when  serious 
interests  had  decayed,  when  tragedy  had  ceased  to 
be  religious,  and  comedy  political,  when  neither  was 
looked  upon  any  longer  as  a great  public  engine  of 
instruction  or  of  censure,  turned  to  pictures  of  social 
life,  not  unlike  our  genteel  comedy  ; and  in  this 
species  of  drama  we  may  assert  that  the  Greeks, 
except  perhaps  for  masks,  imitated  the  course  of 
ordinary  life. 

It  is  indeed  said  of  Euripides,  the  real  father  of 
this  new  comedy,  that  he  brought  down  the  tragic 
stage  from  ideal  heroism  to  the  passions  and  mean- 
nesses of  ordinary  men ; and  Sophocles,  his  rival, 
the  supposed  perfection  of  an  Attic  tragedian,  is 
reputed  to  have  observed  that  he  himself  had  repre- 
sented men  as  they  ought  to  be,  Euripides  as  they 
were.  But  any  honest  reader  of  Euripides  will  see 
at  once  how  far  he  too  is  removed  from  the  ordinary 
realisms  of  life.  He  saw,  indeed,  that  human  passion 
is  the  subject,  of  all  others,  which  will  permanently 
interest  human  thought ; he  felt  that  the  insoluble 
problems  of  Free  Will  and  Fate,  of  the  mercy  and 
the  cruelty  of  Providence,  were  too  abstract  on  the 
one  hand,  and  too  specially  Greek  on  the  other ; 
that,  after  all,  human  nature  as  such  is  the  great 
universal  field  on  which  any  age  can  reach  the 
sympathy  and  the  interest  of  its  remotest  successors. 


130 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


But  the  passions  painted  by  Euripides  were  no 
ordinary  passions — they  were  great  and  unnatural 
crimes,  forced  upon  suffering  mortals  by  the  action 
of  hostile  deities  j the  virtues  of  Euripides  were  no 
ordinary  virtues — they  were  great  heroic  self-sacri- 
fices, and  showed  the  Divine  element  in  our  nature, 
which  no  tyranny  of  circumstances  can  efface.  His 
Phaedra  and  Medea  on  the  one  hand,  his  Alcestis 
and  Iphigenia  on  the  other,  were  strictly  characters 
as  they  ought  to  be  in  tragedy,  and  not  as  they 
commonly  are  in  life  ; and  in  outward  performance 
Euripides  did  not  depart  from  the  conventional  stiff- 
ness, from  the  regular  development,  from  the  some- 
what pompous  and  artificial  dress  in  which  tragedy 
had  been  handed  down  to  him  by  his  masters. 

They,  too,  had  not  despised  human  nature — how 
could  they  f Both  iEschylus  and  Sophocles  were  great 
painters  of  human  character,  as  well  in  its  passions  as  in 
its  reasonings.  But  the  former  had  made  it  accessory, 
so  to  speak,  to  the  great  religious  lessons  which  he 
taught ; the  latter  had  at  least  affected  to  do  so,  or 
imagined  that  he  did,  while  really  the  labyrinths  of 
human  character  had  enticed  and  held  him  in  their 
endless  maze.  Thus,  all  through  Greek  tragedy 
there  was  on  the  one  hand  a strong  element  of  con- 
ventional stiffness,  of  adherence  to  fixed  subjects, 
and  scenes,  and  masks,  and  dresses — of  adherence 
to  fixed  metres,  and  regular  dialogues,  where  ques- 
tion and  answer  were  balanced  line  for  line,  and  the 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


131 


cast  of  characters  was  as  uniform  as  it  is  in  the 
ordinary  Italian  operas  of  our  own  day.  But  on  the 
other  hand,  these  tragic  poets  were  great  masters  of 
expression,  profound  students  not  only  of  the  great 
world  problems,  but  of  the  problems  of  human  nature, 
exquisite  masters  too  of  their  language,  not  only  in 
its  dramatic  force,  but  in  its  lyric  sweetness  j they 
summed  up  in  their  day  all  that  was  great  and 
beautiful  in  Greek  poetry,  and  became  the  fullest 
and  ripest  fruit  of  that  wonderful  tree  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  good  and  evil,  which  even  now  makes  those 
that  taste  it  to  be  as  gods. 

Such,  then,  were  the  general  features  of  the 
tragedy  which  the  Athenian  public,  and  the  married 
women,  including  many  strangers,  assembled  to  wit- 
ness in  broad  daylight  under  the  Attic  sky.  They 
were  not  sparing  of  their  time.  They  ate  a good 
breakfast  before  they  came.  They  ate  sweetmeats 
in  the  theatre  when  the  acting  was  bad.  Each  play 
was  short,  and  there  was  doubtless  an  interval  of 
rest.  But  it  is  certain  that  each  poet  contended 
as  a rule  with  four  plays  against  his  competitors  j 
and  as  there  were  certainly  three  of  them,  there 
must  have  been  twelve  plays  acted  ; this  seems  to 
exceed  the  endurance  of  any  public,  even  allowing 
two  days  for  the  performance.  We  are  not  fully 
informed  on  these  points.  We  do  not  even  know 
how  Sophocles,  who  contended  with  single  plays, 
managed  to  compete  against  Euripides,  who  con- 


132 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


tended  with  sets  of  four.  But  we  know  that  the 
judges  were  chosen  by  lot,  and  we  strongly  suspect, 
from  the  records  of  their  decisions,  that  they  often 
decided  wrongly.  We  also  know  that  the  poets 
sought  to  please  the  audience  by  political  and 
patriotic  allusions,  and  to  convey  their  dislike  of 
opposed  cities  or  parties  by  drawing  their  repre- 
sentatives in  odious  colors  on  the  stage.  Thus 
Euripides  is  never  tired  of  traducing  the  Spartans 
in  the  character  of  Menelaus.  iEscliylus  lights  the 
battle  of  the  Areopagus  in  his  Eumenides. 

But  besides  all  this,  it  seems  that  tragic  poets  were 
regarded  as  the  proper  teachers  of  morality,  and  that 
the  stage  among  the  Greeks  occupied  somewhat  the 
place  of  the  modern  pulpit.  This  is  the  very  attitude 
which  Racine  assumes  in  the  Preface  to  his  Phedre. 
He  suggests  that  it  ought  to  be  considered  the  best 
of  his  plays,  because  there  is  none  in  which  he  has 
so  strictly  rewarded  virtue  and  punished  vice.1  He 

1 The  actual  passage  is  well  worth  quoting — “Au  reste,  je  n’ose 
encore  ajouter  que  cette  piece  soit  en  effet  la  meilleure  de  mes 
tragedies.  Je  laisse  et  aux  lecteurs  et  au  temps  a decider  de  son 
veritable  prix.  Cequeje  puis  assurer,  c’est  queje  n’en  ai  point 
fait  ou  la  vertu  soit  plus  mise  en  jour  que  dans  celle-ci ; les 
moindres  fautes  y sont  s^verement  punies  ; la  seule  pensee  du 
crime  y est  regardee  avec  autant  d’  horreur  que  le  crime  meme  ; 
les  faiblesses  de  1’ amour  y passent  pour  des  vraies  faiblesses;  les 
passions  n’y  sont  presentees  aux  yeux  que  pour  montrer  tous  les 
d^sordres  dont  elles  sont  causes,  et  le  vice  y est  peint  partout  avec 
des  couleurs  qui  en  ont  fait  conn  ait  re  et  hair  la  difformite.  C’est 
la  proprement  le  but  que  tout  homme  qui  travaille  pour  le  public 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


133 


alters,  in  his  Ipliigenie , the  Greek  argument  from 
which  he  copied,  because  as  he  tells  us  (again  in  the 
Preface)  it  would  never  do  to  have  so  virtuous  a 
person  as  Iphigenia  sacrificed.  This,  however, 
would  not  have  been  a stumbling-block  to  the 
Greek  poet,  whose  capricious  and  spiteful  gods,  or 
whose  deep  conviction  of  the  stain  of  an  ancestral 
curse,  would  justify  catastrophies  which  the  Chris- 
tian poet,  with  his  trust  in  a benevolent  Providence, 
could  not  admit.  But,  indeed,  in  most  other  points 
the  so-called  imitations  of  the  Greek  drama  by 
Racine  and  his  school  are  anything  but  imitations. 
The  main  characters  and  the  general  outline  of  the 
plot  are  no  doubt  borrowed.  The  elegance  and 
power  of  the  dialogue  are  more  or  less  successfully 
copied.  But  the  natural  and  familiar  scenes,  which 
would  have  been  shocking  to  the  court  of  Louis 
XIV. — u ces  scenes  entremelees  de  bas  comique,  et 
ces  frequents  exemples  de  mauvais  ton  et  d’une 


se  doit  proposer ; et  c’  est  que  les  premiers  poetes  tragiques  avaient 
en  vue  sur  toute  chose.  Leur  theatre  etait  une  ecole  ou  la  vertu 
n’etait  pas  moins  bien  enseignee  que  dans  les  ecoles  des  philos- 
ophes.  ...  II  serait  a souhaiter  que  nos  ouvrages  fussent  aussi 
solides  et  aussi  pleins  d’  utiles  instructions  que  ceux  de  ces  poetes. 
Ce  serait  peut-etre  un  moyen  de  reconcilier  la  tragedie  avec  quantite 
de  personnes  celebres  par  leur  piete  et  par  leur  doctrine,  qui  l’ont 
condamnee  dans  ces  derniers  temps,  et  qui  en  jugeraient  sans  doute 
plus  favorablement,  si  les  auteurs  songeaient  autant  a instruire  les 
spectateurs  qu’  a les  divertir,  et  s’ils  suivaient  en  cela  la  veritable 
intention  de  la  tragedie.’  ’ 


134 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


familiarite  choquante,”  as  Barth elemy  says — such 
characters  as  the  guard  in  the  Antigone , the  nurse 
in  the  Choephorce , the  Phrygian  in  the  Orestes , were 
carefully  expunged.  Moreover,  love  affairs  and 
court  intrigues  were  everywhere  introduced,  and 
the  language  was  never  allowed  to  descend  from  its 
pomp  and  grandeur.  Most  of  the  French  dramatists 
were  indeed  bad  Greek  scholars,1  and  knew  the  plays 
from  which  they  copied  either  through  very  poor 
translations,  or  through  the  rhetorical  travesties  sur- 
viving under  the  name  of  Seneca,  which  were  long 
thought  fully  equal  to  the  great  and  simple  originals. 

So  the  French  of  the  seventeenth  century,  start- 
ing from  these  half-understood  models,  and  applying 
rigidly  the  laws  of  tragedy  which  they  had  deduced, 
with  questionable  logic,  from  that  very  untrustworthy 
guide,  our  text  of  the  Poetics  of  Aristotle,  created 
a drama  which  became  so  unlike  what  it  professed 
to  imitate,  that  most  good  modern  French  critics 
have  occupied  themselves  with  showing  the  contrasts 
of  old  Greek  tragedy  to  that  of  the  modern  stage. 
They  are  always  praising  the  naivete , the  familiarity, 
the  irregularity  of  the  old  dramatists ; they  are 
always  noting  touches  of  common  life  and  of  ordi- 
nary motive  quite  foreign  to  the  dignity  of  Racine, 
and  Voltaire,  and  Alfieri.2  They  think  that  the  real 

1 Racine  is  here  the  exception. 

2 Alfieri,  though  starting  with  a violent  feeling  of  reaction 
ngainst  some  of  the  faults  of  the  French  drama,  was  wholly 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


135 


parallel  is  to  be  found  not  among  them,  but  in 
Shakespeare.  Thus  their  education  makes  them 
emphasize  the  very  qualities  which  we  admit,  but 
should  not  cite,  as  the  peculiarities  of  Greek 
tragedy.  We  are  rather  struck  with  its  conven- 
tionalities, with  its  strict  adherence  to  fixed  form, 
with  its  somewhat  stilted  diction,  and  we  wonder 
how  it  came  to  be  so  great  and  natural  within  these 
trammels. 

Happily  the  tendency  in  our  own  day  to  reproduce 
antiquity  faithfully,  and  not  in  modern  recasting,  has 
led  to  the  translating,  and  even  to  the  representing, 
of  Greek  tragedies  in  their  purity,  and  it  does  not 
require  a knowledge  of  Greek  to  obtain  some  real 
acquaintance  with  these  great  masterpieces.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Browning,  Dean  Milman,  Mr.  Fitzgerald, 
Mr.  Whitelaw,  and  many  others,  have  placed  faith- 
ful and  elegant  versions  within  our  reach.  But  since 
I have  cautioned  the  reader  not  versed  in  Greek 
against  adopting  Racine’s  or  Alfieri’s  plays  as  ade- 
quate substitutes,  I venture  to  give  the  same  advice 
concerning  the  more  Greek  and  antique  plays  of  Mr. 
Swinburne,  which,  in  spite  of  their  splendor,  are 
still  not  really  Greek  plays,  but  modern  plays  based 
on  Greek  models.  The  relief  produced  by  ordinary 

trained  upon  it,  and  only  knew  the  Greek  plays  through  French 
versions  until  very  late  in  life,  when  most  of  his  works  were 
already  published.  I therefore  class  him  unhesitatingly  as  an 
offshoot  of  that  school. 


136 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


talk  from  ordinary  characters,  which  has  been  al- 
ready noticed,  is  greatly  wanting  in  his  very  lofty, 
and  perhaps  even  strained,  dialogue.  Nor  are  his 
choruses  the  voice  of  the  vulgar  public,  combining 
high  sentiments  with  practical  meanness,  but  elab- 
orate and  very  difficult  speculations,  which  comment 
metaphysically  on  the  general  problems  of  the  play. 
There  is  nothing  better  worth  reading  than  the 
Atalanta  in  Calydon.  The  Greek  scholar  sees 
everywhere  how  thoroughly  imbued  the  author  is 
with  Greek  models.  But  it  will  not  give  to  the 
mere  English  reader  any  accurate  idea  of  a real 
Greek  tragedy.  He  must  go  to  Balaustiori* s Adven- 
ture, or  Aristophanes’s  Apology , or  some  other  pro- 
fessed translation,  and  follow  it  line  for  line,  adding 
some  such  general  reviews  as  the  Etudes  of  M.  Patin. 

As  for  revivals  of  Greek  plays,  it  seems  to  me 
not  likely  that  they  will  ever  succeed.  The  French 
imitations  of  Racine  laid  hold  of  the  public  because 
they  were  not  imitations.  And  as  for  us  nowadays, 
who  are  more  familiar  with  the  originals,  a faithless 
reproduction  would  shock  us,  while  a literal  one 
would  weary  us.  This  at  least  is  the  effect  which 
the  Antigone  produces,  even  with  the  modern  chor- 
uses of  Mendelssohn  to  relieve  the  slowness  of  the 
action.  But,  of  course,  a reproduction  of  the  old 
chorus  would  be  simply  impossible.  The  whole  pit 
in  the  theatre  of  Dionysus  seems  to  have  been  left 
empty.  A part  somewhat  larger  than  our  orchestra 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


137 


was  covered  with  a raised  platform,  though  still 
lower  than  the  stage.1  Upon  this  the  chorus  danced 
and  sang  and  looked  on  at  the  actors,  as  in  the  play 
within  the  play  in  Hamlet.  Above  all,  they  con- 
stantly prayed  to  their  gods,  and  this  religious  side 
of  the  performance  has  of  course  no  effect  upon  us.2 

As  to  old  Attic  comedy,  it  would  be  even  more 
impossible  to  recover  it  for  a modern  public.  Its 
local  and  political  allusions,  its  broad  and  coarse 
humor,  its  fantastic  dresses,  were  features  which 
made  it  not  merely  ancient  and  Greek,  but  Athenian, 
and  Athenian  of  a certain  epoch.  Without  the 
Alexandrian  scholiasts,  who  came  in  time  to  recover 
and  note  down  most  of  the  allusions,  these  comedies 
would  be  to  the  Greek  scholar  of  to-day  hardly 
intelligible.  The  new  Attic  comedy,  of  which  Ter- 
ence is  a copy,  is  indeed  on  a modern  basis,  and  may 
be  faithfully  reproduced,  if  not  admired,  in  our  day. 
But  here,  alas ! the  great  originals  of  Menander, 
Philemon,  and  Diphilus  are  lost  to  us,  and  we  must 
be  content  with  the  Latin  accommodations. 

But  I have  delayed  too  long  over  these  Greek 

1 There  is  now  (1891)  a controversy  raging  concerning  the  height 
of  the  Greek  stage  and  its  arrangements,  owing  to  the  researches 
of  Dr.  Dorpfeld.  I cannot  enter  upon  it  here. 

2 This  was  written  before  the  very  interesting  revivals  of  Greek 
plays  which  do  such  honor  to  Cambridge.  Those  who  had  the 
privilege  of  seeing  them  can  judge  not  only  how  far  a reproduc- 
tion was  possible,  but  how  far  it  can  succeed,  for  never  will  it  be 
more  ably  undertaken  and  carried  out. 


138 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


plays,  and  must  apologize  for  leading  away  the 
reader  from  the  actual  theatre  in  which  he  is  sitting. 
Yet  there  is  hardly  a place  in  Athens  which  calls 
back  the  mind  so  strongly  to  the  old  days,  when  all 
the  crowd  came  jostling  in,  and  settled  down  in  their 
seats,  to  hear  the  great  novelties  of  the  year  from 
Sophocles  or  Euripides.  No  doubt  there  were 
cliques  and  cabals  and  claqueurs,  noisy  admirers 
and  cold  critics,  the  supporters  of  the  old,  and  the 
lovers  of  the  new,  devotees  and  skeptics,  wondering 
foreigners  and  self-complacent  citizens.  They  little 
thought  how  we  should  come,  not  only  to  sit  in  the 
seats  they  occupied,  but  to  reverse  the  judgments 
which  they  pronounced,  and  correct  with  sober 
temper  the  errors  of  prejudice,  of  passion,  and  of 
pride. 

Plato  makes  Socrates  say,  in  his  Apologia  ( pro 
vita  sua ),  that  a copy  of  Anaxagoras  could  be 
bought  on  the  orchestra,  when  very  dear,  for  a 
drachme,  that  is  to  say  for  about  9d.  of  our  money, 
which  may  then  have  represented  our  half-crown  or 
three  shillings  in  value.1  The  commentators  have 
made  desperate  attempts  to  explain  this.  Some  say 
the  orchestra  was  used  as  a book-stall  when  plays 
were  not  going  on — an  assumption  justified  by  no 

1 The  reader  who  cares  to  consult  the  various  prices  cited  in  my 
Old  Greek  Life  will  see  the  grounds  for  assuming  some  such  change 
in  the  value  of  money  between  the  fourth  century  b.  c.  in  Greece 
and  the  nineteenth  A.  d.  in  England. 


THEATRE  OF  DIONYSUS. 


139 


other  hint  in  Greek  literature.  Others  have  far 
more  absurdly  imagined  that  Plato  really  meant  you 
could  pay  a drachme  for  the  best  seat  in  the  theatre, 
and  read  the  writings  of  Anaxagoras  in  a fashion- 
able play  of  Euripides,  who  was  his  friend  and  fol- 
lower. Verily  a wonderful  interpretation  ! 

If  the  reader  will  walk  with  me  from  the  theatre 
of  Dionysus  past  the  newly  excavated  site  of  the 
temple  of  iEsculapius,  and  past  the  Roinan-Greek 
theatre  which  was  erected  by  Hadrian  or  Herodes 
Atticus,  I will  show  him  what  Plato  meant.  Of 
course,  this  later  theatre,  with  its  solid  Roman  back 
scenes  of  masonry,  is  equally  interesting  with  the 
Theatre  of  Dionysus  to  the  advocates  of  the  unity 
of  history  ! But  to  us  who  are  content  to  study 
Greek  Athens,  it  need  not  afford  any  irrelevant  de- 
lays. Passing  round  the  approach  to  the  Acropolis, 
we  come  on  to  a lesser  hill,  separated  from  it  by  a 
very  short  saddle,  so  that  it  looks  like  a sort  of  out- 
post or  spur  sent  out  from  the  rock  of  the  Acropolis. 
This  is  the  Areopagus — Mars’  Hill — which  we  can 
ascend  in  a few  minutes.  There  are  marks  of  old 
staircases  cut  in  the  rock.  There  are  underneath, 
on  our  left  and  right,  as  we  go  up,  deep  black  cav- 
erns, once  the  home  of  the  Eumenides.  On  the  flat 
top  there  are  still  some  signs  of  a rude  smoothing 
of  the  stone  for  seats.  Under  us,  to  the  north-west, 
is  the  site  of  the  old  agora , once  surrounded  with 
colonnades,  the  crowded  market-place  of  all  those 


140 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


who  bought  and  sold  and  talked.  But  on  the  de- 
scent from  the  Areopagus,  and,  now  at  least,  not 
much  higher  than  the  level  of  the  market-place  be- 
neath, there  is  a small  semicircular  platform,  backed 
by  the  rising  rock.  This,  or  some  platform  close  to 
it,  which  may  now  be  hidden  by  accumulated  soil, 
was  the  old  orchestra , possibly  the  site  of  the  oldest 
theatre,  but  in  historical  times  a sort  of  reserved 
platform,  where  the  Athenians,  who  had  their  town 
bristling  with  statues,  allowed  no  monument  to  be 
erected  save  the  figures  of  Harmodius  and  Aristo- 
giton,  which  were  carried  into  Persia,  replaced  by 
others,  afterwards  recovered,  and  of  which  we  may 
have  a copy  in  the  two  fighting  figures,  of  archaic 
character,  now  in  the  Museum  of  Naples.  It  was 
doubtless  on  this  orchestra,  just  above  the  bustle  and 
thoroughfare  of  the  agora , that  booksellers  kept  their 
stalls,  and  here  it  was  that  the  book  of  Anaxgoras 
could  be  bought  for  a drachme. 

Here  then  was  the  place  where  that  physical  phi- 
losophy was  disseminated  which  first  gained  a few 
advanced  thinkers  ; then,  through  Euripides,  leav- 
ened the  drama,  once  the  exponent  of  ancient  piety ; 
then,  through  the  stage,  the  Athenian  public,  till  we 
arrive  at  those  Stoics  and  Epicureans  who  came  to 
teach  philosophy  and  religion  not  as  a faith,  but  as  a 
system,  and  to  spend  their  time  with  the  rest  of  the 
public  in  seeking  out  novelties  of  creed  and  of 
opinion  as  mere  fashions  with  which  people  choose 


Mars'  Hill,  Athens 


ATHENS— THE  AREOPAGUS. 


141 


to  dress  their  minds.  And  it  was  on  this  very  Are- 
opagus, where  we  are  now  standing,  that  these  phi- 
losophers of  fashion  came  into  contact  with  the  thor- 
ough earnestness,  the  profound  convictions,  the  red- 
hot  zeal  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  The  memory  of  that 
great  scene  still  lingers  about  the  place,  and  every 
guide  will  show  you  the  exact  place  where  the 
Apostle  stood,  and  in  what  direction  he  addressed  his 
audience.  There  are,  I believe,  even  some  respect- 
able commentators,  who  transfer  their  own  estimate 
of  S.  Paul’s  importance  to  the  Athenian  public,  and 
hold  that  it  was  before  the  court  of  the  Areopagus 
that  he  was  asked  to  expound  his  views.1  This  is 

1 I perceive  that  M.  Renan,  who  alone  of  skeptical  critics 
is  persuaded,  possibly  by  the  striking  picturesqueness  of  the 
scene,  to  accept  it  as  historical,  considers  it  not  impossible  that 
S.  Paul  may  have  been  actually  brought  before  the  court.  He 
notices  that  in  later  days  it  assumed  a general  direction  not  only 
of  literature,  but  of  morals,  and  that  any  new  teacher  might  fairly 
have  been  summoned  before  it  to  expound  his  views.  This  does 
not  seem  to  me  to  agree  with  the  ironical  and  trivial  character  of 
the  whole  audience,  as  intimated  by  the  historian.  The  author  of 
the  work  called  Supernatural  Religion,  when  analyzing,  in  his  third 
volume,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  is  actually  silent  on  this  speech, 
though  he  discusses  at  great  length  the  speeches  of  S.  Paul  which  he 
thinks  composed  as  parallels  to  those  of  S.  Peter.  Most  German 
critics  look  on  the  passage  as  introduced  by  the  author,  like  the 
speeches  in  Thucydides  or  Tacitus,  as  a literary  ornament,  as  well  as 
an  exposition  of  the  Apostolic  preaching  of  the  early  Church.  They 
also  note  its  many  contrasts  to  the  teaching  of  such  documents  as 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  I have  assumed,  as  even  M.  Renan 
seems  to  do,  that  the  Apostle  told  Timothy,  or  Luke,  or  some  other 


142 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


more  than  doubtfuL  The  biases  philosophers,  who 
probably  yawned  over  their  own  lectures,  hearing  of 
a new  lay  preacher,  eager  to  teach  and  apparently 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  what  he  said,  thought  the 
novelty  too  delicious  to  be  neglected,  and  brought 
him  forthwith  out  of  the  chatter  and  bustle  of  the 
crowd,  probably  past  the  very  orchestra  where 
Anaxagoras’s  books  had  been  proselytizing  before 
him,  and  where  the  stiff  old  heroes  of  Athenian  his- 
tory stood,  a monument  of  the  escape  from  political 
slavery.  It  is  even  possible  that  the  curious  knot 
of  idlers  did  not  bring  him  higher  than  this  platform, 
which  might  well  be  called  part  of  Mars’  Hill.  But 
if  they  choose  to  bring  him  to  the  top,  there  was  no 
hindrance,  for  the  venerable  court  held  its  sittings 
in  the  open  air,  on  stone  seats ; and  when  not  thus 
occupied  the  top  of  the  rock  may  well  have  been  a 
convenient  place  of  retirement  for  people  who  did 
not  want  to  be  disturbed  by  new  acquaintances  and 
the  constant  eddies  of  new  gossip  in  the  market- 
place. 

It  is,  however,  of  far  less  import  to  know  on  what 
spot  of  the  Areopagus  Paul  stood,  than  to  under- 
stand clearly  what  he  said,  and  how  he  sought  to 
conciliate  as  well  as  to  refute  the  philosophers  who, 
no  doubt,  looked  down  upon  him  as  an  intellectual 

follower,  the  main  purport  of  this  memorable  visit,  and  also  the 
headings  of  the  speech,  which  is  too  unlike  his  received  writings 
to  be  a probable  forgery. 


ATHENS— THE  AKEOPAGUS. 


143 


inferior.  He  starts  naturally  enough  from  the  extra- 
ordinary crowd  of  votive  statues  and  offerings,  for 
which  Athens  was  remarkable  above  all  other  cities 
of  Greece.  He  says,  with  a touch  of  irony,  that 
he  finds  them  very  religious  indeed,1  so  religious  that 
he  even  found  an  altar  to  a God  professedly  unknown , 
or  perhaps  unknowable.2  Probably  S.  Paul  meant  to 
pass  from  the  latter  sense  of  the  word  dyvcoaro^j 
which  was,  I fancy,  what  the  inscription  meant,  to 
the  former,  which  gave  him  an  excellent  introduc- 
tion to  his  argument.  Even  the  use  of  the  singular 
may  have  been  an  intentional  variation  from  the 
strict  text,  for  Pausanias  twice  over  speaks  of  altars 
to  the  gods  who  are  called  the  ayvcoorot  (or  mysteri- 
ous), but  I cannot  find  any  citation  of  the  inscrip- 
tion in  the  singular  form.  However  that  may  be, 
our  version  does  not  preserve  the  neatness  of  S. 
PauPs  point:  “I  find  an  altar,”  he  says,  “to  an  un- 
known God.  Whom  then  ye  unknowingly  worship, 

1 The  fact  that  the  title  of  Menander’s  famous  play  was 
A eicudai/uuv  has  escaped  the  commentators.  S.  Paul  must  have 
meant  “ rather  superstitious,”  as  the  A.  V.  has  it. 

2 Though  a-yvuoTog  may  surely  have  this  meaning,  I do  not 
find  it  suggested  in  any  of  the  commentaries  on  the  passage.  They 
all  suppose  some  superstitious  precaution,  or  else  some  case  of  the 
real  inscription  being  effaced  by  time,  and  supplied  in  this  way. 
The  expression  in  Pausanias — the  gods  called  unknown,  rolg 
ovo/iaZo/iivoig  ayvuoToig — seems  to  suggest  it  as  a regular  title,  and 
we  know  that  there  were  deities  whose  name  was  secret,  and  might 
not  be  pronounced.  But  in  the  face  of  so  many  better  critics  I 
will  not  insist  upon  this  interpretation. 


144 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Him  I announce  to  you.”  But  then  he  develops  a 
conception  of  the  great  One  God,  not  at  all  from 
the  special  Jewish,  but  from  the  Stoic  point  of  view. 
He  was  preaching  to  Epicureans  and  to  Stoics — to 
the  advocates  of  prudence  as  the  means,  and  pleas- 
ure as  the  end,  of  a happy  life,  on  the  one  hand ; 
on  the  other,  to  the  advocates  of  duty,  and  of  life  in 
harmony  with  the  Providence  which  governs  the 
world  for  good.  There  could  be  no  doubt  to  which 
side  the  man  of  Tarsus  must  incline.  Though  the 
Stoics  of  the  market-place  of  Athens  might  be  mere 
dilettanti,  mere  talkers  about  the  dyaOov,  and  the  great 
soul  of  the  world,  we  know  that  this  system  of  phi- 
losophy produced  at  Tarsus  as  well  as  at  Rome  the 
most  splendid  constancy,  the  most  heroic  endurance 
— I had  almost  said  the  most  Christian  benevolence. 
It  was  this  stern  and  earnest  theory  which  attracted 
all  serious  minds  in  the  decay  of  heathenism. 

Accordingly,  S.  Paul  makes  no  secret  of  his 
sympathy  with  its  nobler  features.  He  describes 
the  God  whom  he  preaches  as  the  benevolent  Author 
of  the  beauty  and  fruitfulness  of  Nature,  the  great 
Benefactor  of  mankind  by  His  providence,  and  not 
without  constant  and  obtrusive  witnesses  of  His 
greatness  and  His  goodness.  But  he  goes  much 
further,  and  treads  close  upon  the  Stoic  pantheism 
when  he  not  only  asserts,  in  the  words  of  Aratus, 
than  we  are  His  offspring,  but  that  u in  Him  we  live, 
and  move,  and  have  our  being.” 


ATHENS— THE  AREOPAGUS. 


145 


His  first  conclusion,  that  the  Godhead  should  not 
be  worshipped  or  even  imaged  in  stone  or  in  bronze, 
was  no  doubt  quite  in  accordance  with  more  enlight- 
ened Athenian  philosophy.  But  it  was  when  he 
proceeded  to  preach  the  Resurrection  of  the  Dead, 
that  even  those  who  were  attracted  by  him,  and 
sympathized  with  him,  turned  away  in  contempt. 
The  Epicureans  thought  death  the  end  of  all  things. 
The  Stoics  thought  that  the  human  soul,  the  off- 
spring— nay,  rather  an  offshoot — of  the  Divine 
world-soul,  would  be  absorbed  into  its  parent 
essence.  Neither  could  believe  the  assertion  of 
S.  Paul.  When  they  first  heard  him  talk  of  Jesus 
and  Anastasis  they  thought  them  some  new  pair  of 
Oriental  deities.  But  when  they  learned  that  Jesus 
was  a man  ordained  by  God  to  judge  the  world,  and 
that  Anastasis  was  merely  the  Anastasis  of  the  dead, 
they  were  greatly  disappointed ; so  some  mocked, 
and  some  excused  themselves  from  further  listening. 

Thus  ended,  to  all  appearance  ignominiously,  the 
first  heralding  of  the  faith  which  was  to  supplant  all 
the  temples  and  altars  and  statues  with  which  Athens 
had  earned  its  renown  as  a beautiful  city,  which  was 
to  overthrow  the  schools  of  the  sneering  philosophers, 
and  even  to  remodel  all  the  society  and  the  policy 
of  the  world.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  this  great  and 
decisive  triumph  of  Christianity  there  was  some- 
thing curiously  prophetic  in  the  contemptuous  re- 
jection of  its  apostle  at  Athens.  Was  it  not  the 
10 


146 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


first  expression  of  the  feeling  which  still  possesses 
the  visitor  who  wanders  through  its  ruins,  and  which 
still  dominates  the  educated  world  ? — the  feeling  that 
while  other  cities  owe  to  the  triumph  of  Christianity 
all  their  beauty  and  their  interest,  Athens  has  to  this 
day  resisted  this  influence ; and  that  while  the 
Christian  monuments  of  Athens  would  elsewhere 
excite  no  small  attention,  here  they  are  passed  by 
as  of  no  import  compared  with  its  heathen  splendor.1 

1 This  depends  on  no  mere  accident,  but  on  the  essential  feat- 
ures of  the  spiritual  side  of  Greek  character,  on  which  I will  quote 
an  admirable  passage  from  Renan’s  S.  Paul: 

“Ce  qui  caracterisait  la  religion  du  Grec  autrefois,  ce  qui  la 
caracterise  encore  de  nos  jours,  c’est  le  manque  d’infini,  de  vague, 
d’ attendrissement,  de  mollesse  feminine;  la  profondeur  du  senti- 
ment religieux  allemand  et  celtique  manque  a la  race  des  vrais 
Hellenes.  La  piete  du  Grec  orthodoxe  consiste  en  pratiques  et  en 
signes  exterieurs.  Les  eglises  ortliodoxes,  parfois  tres-41egantes, 
n’ont  rien  des  terreurs  qu’on  ressent  dans  line  eglise  gothique. 
En  ce  christianisme  oriental,  point  de  larmes,  de  prieres,  de  com- 
ponction  interieure.  Les  enterrements  y sont  presque  gais ; ils  ont 
lieu  le  soir,  au  soleil  couchant,  quand  les  ombres  sont  deja  longues, 
avec  des  chants  a mi-voix  et  un  deployment  de  couleurs  voyantes. 
La  gravite  fanatique  des  Latins  deplait  a ces  races  vives,  sereines, 
l^geres.  L’infirme  n’y  est  pas  abattu  : il  voit  doucement  venir  la 
mort ; tout  sourit  autour  de  lui.  La  est  le  secret  de  cette  gaiety 
divine  des  poemes  hom£riques  et  de  Platon  : le  recit  de  la  mort  de 
Socrate  dans  le  Phedon  montre  a peine  une  teinte  de  tristesse.  La 
vie,  c’est  donner  sa  fleur,  puis  son  fruit ; quoi  de  plus?  Si,  comme 
on  pent  le  soutenir,  la  preoccupation  de  la  mort  est  le  trait  le  plus 
important  du  christianisme  et  du  sentiment  religieux  moderne,  la 
race  grecque  est  la  moins  religieuse  des  races.  C’est  une  race 
superficielle,  prenant  la  vie  comme  une  chose  sans  surnaturel  ni 


ATHENS— THE  AREOPAGUS. 


147 


There  are  very  old  and  very  beautiful  little  churches 
in  Athens,  “ces  delicieuses  petites  eglises  byzantines,” 

arriere-plan.  Une  telle  simplicity  de  conception  tient  en  grande 
partie  au  climat,  a la  purete  de  Pair,  a l’etonnante  joie  qu’on 
respire,  mais  bien  plus  encore  aux  instincts  de  la  race  hellenique, 
adorablement  idealiste.  Un  rien.  un  arbre,  une  fleur,  un  lezard, 
une  tortue,  provoquant  le  souvenir  de  mille  metamorphoses  chantees 
par  les  poetes  ; un  filet  d’eau,  un  petit  creux  dans  le  rocher,  qu’on 
qualifie  d’  antre  des  nymphes  ; un  puits  avec  une  tasse  sur  la  mar- 
gelle,  un  pertuis  de  mer  si  etroit  que  les  papillons  le  traversent  et 
pourtant  navigable  aux  plus  grands  vaisseaux,  comme  a Poros  ; 
des  orangers,  des  cypres  dont  F ombre  s’dtend  sur  la  mer,  un  petit 
bois  de  pins  au  milieu  des  rochers,  suffisent  en  Grece  pour  produire 
le  contentement  qu’eveille  la  beaute.  Se  promener  dans  les  jardins 
pendant  la  nuit,  ecouter  les  cigales,  s’asseoir  au  clair  de  lune  en 
jouant  de  la  flute ; aller  boire  de  Feau  dans  la  montagne,  apporter 
avec  soi  un  petit  pain,  un  poisson  et  un  lecythe  de  vin  qu’on  boit 
en  chantant;  aux  fetes  de  famille,  suspendre  une  couronne  de 
feuillage  au-dessus  de  sa  porte,  aller  avec  des  chapeaux  de  fleurs ; 
les  jours  de  fetes  publiques,  porter  des  thyrses  garnis  de  fueillages ; 
passer  des  journees  a danser,  a jouer  avec  des  chevres  apprivois^es 
— voila  les  plaisirs  grecs,  plaisirs  d’une  race  pauvre,  econome, 
yternellement  jeune,  habitant  un  pays  charmant,  trouvant  son  bien 
en  elle-meme  et  dans  les  dons  que  les  dieux  lui  ont  faits.  La 
pastorale  a la  fapon  de  Theocrite  fut  dans  les  pays  helleniques  une 
v£rite  ; la  Grece  se  plut  toujours  a ce  petit  genre  de  poesie  fin  et 
aimable,  Fun  des  plus  caracteristiques  de  sa  literature,  miroir  de 
sa  propre  vie,  presque  partout  ailleurs  niais  et  factice.  La  belle 
humeur,  la  joie  de  vivre  sont  les  choses  grecques  par  excellence. 
Cette  race  a toujours  vingt  ans : pour  elle,  indulgere  genio  n’  est  pas 
la  pesante  ivresse  de  F Anglais,  le  grossier  ebattement  du  Franpais ; 
c’est  tout  simplement  penser  que  la  nature  est  bonne,  qu’on  peut 
et  qu’on  doit  y ceder.  Pour  le  Grec,  en  effet,  la  nature  est  une 
conseillere  d’ elegance,  une  maitresse  de  droiture  et  de  vertu  ; la 
‘ concupiscence,’  cette  idee  que  la  nature  nous  induit  a mal  faire, 


148 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


as  M.  Renan  calls  them.  They  are  very  peculiar, 
and  unlike  what  one  generally  sees  in  Europe. 

est  un  non-sens  pour  lui.  Le  gout  de  la  parure  qui  distingue  le 
palicare,  et  qui  se  montre  avec  tant  d’ innocence  dans  la  jeune 
Grecque,  n’est  pas  la  pompeuse  vanite  du  barbare,  la  sotte  pre- 
tention de  la  bourgeoise,  bouffie  de  son  ridicule  orgueil  de  parvenue  ; 
c’est  le  sentiment  pur  et  fin  de  nai'fs  jouvenceaux,  se  sentant  fils 
legitimes  des  vrais  inventeurs  de  la  beaute. 

“Une  telle  race,  on  le  comprend,  eut  accueilli  Jesus  par  un 
sourire.  II  etait  une  chose  que  ces  enfants  exquis  ne  pouvaient 
nous  apprendre : le  s^rieux  profond,  l’honnetete  simple,  le  devoue- 
ment  sans  gloire,  la  bonte  sans  emphase.  Socrate  est  un  moraliste 
de  premier  ordre : mais  il  n’a  rien  a faire  dans  l’histoire  religieuse- 
Le  Grec  nous  parait  toujours  un  peu  sec  et  sans  cceur : il  a de 
1’ esprit,  du  mouvement,  de  la  subtilite ; il  n’a  rien  de  reveur,  de 
melancolique.  Nous  autres,  Celtes  et  Germains,  la  source  de  notre 
genie,  c’est  notre  coeur.  Au  fond  de  nous  est  comme  une  fontaine  de 
fdes,  une  fontaine  claire,  verte  et  profonde,  oh  se  reflete  l’infini. 
Chez  le  Grec,  1’  amour  propre,  la  vanite  se  melent  a tout ; le  sentiment 
vague  lui  est  inconnu  ; la  reflexion  sur  sa  propre  destinee  lui  parait 
fade.  Poussee  a la  caricature,  une  fa£on  si  incomplete  d’ entendre 
la  vie  donne  a l’^poque  romaine  le  grcpculus  esuriens,  grammairien, 
artiste,  charlatan,  acrobate,  medecin,  amuseur  du  monde  entier,  fort 
analogue  a l’ltalien  des  xvie  et  xvne  siecles:  a l’epoque  byzantine, 
le  th&dogien  sophiste  faisant  deg^nerer  la  religion  en  subtiles  dis- 
putes ; de  nos  jours,  le  Grec  moderne,  quelquefois  vaniteux  et 
ingrat,  le  papas  ortliodoxe,  avec  sa  religion  £goiste  et  mat^rielle. 
Malheur  a qui  s’arr£te  a cette  decadence!  Honte  a celui  qui, 
devant  le  Parthenon,  songe  a remarquer  un  ridicule  ! Il  faut  le 
reconnaitre  pourtant:  la  GrSce  ne  fut  jamais  s&ieusement  chr£- 
tienne ; elle  ne  Test  pas  encore.  Aucune  race  ne  fut  moins 
romantique,  plus  d£nu£e  du  sentiment  chevaleresque  de  notre 
moyen  age.  Platon  bsitit  toute  sa  th(3orie  de  la  beauts  en  se  passant 
de  la  femme.  Penser  t\  une  femme  pour  s’ exciter  a faire  de  grandes 
choses  ! un  Grec  eut  ete  bien  surpris  d’un  pareil  langage;  il  pen- 


ATHENS— THE  AREOPAGUS. 


149 


They  strike  the  observer  with  their  quaintness  and 
smallness,  and  he  fancies  he  here  sees  the  tiny  model 

sait,  lui,  aux  hommes  reunis  sur  Y agora,  il  pensait  a la  patrie. 
Sous  ce  rapport,  les  Latins  etaient  plus  pres  de  nous.  La  poesie 
grecque,  incomparable  dans  les  grands  genres  tels  que  1’ epopee,  la 
tragedie,  la  poesie  lyrique  desinteressee,  n’avait  pas,  ce  semble,  la 
douce  note  elegiaque  de  Tibulle,  de  Virgile,  de  Lucrece,  note  si 
bien  en  harmonie  avec  nos  sentiments,  si  voisine  de  ce  que  nous 
aimons. 

“La  meme  difference  se  retrouve  entre  la  piete  de  saint  Ber- 
nard, de  saint  Francois  d’ Assise  et  celle  des  saints  de  l’Eglise 
grecque.  Ces  belles  ecoles  de  Cappadoce,  de  Syrie,  d’  Egypte,  des 
Peres  du  desert,  sont  presque  des  ecoles  philosophiques.  U hagio- 
grapliie  populaire  des  Grecs  est  plus  mythologique  que  celle  des 
Latins.  La  plupart  des  saints  qui  figurent  dans  l’iconostase  d’une 
maison  grecque  et  devant  lesquels  brule  une  lampe  ne  sont  pas 
de  grands  fondateurs,  de  grands  hommes,  comme  les  saints  de 
1’  Occident ; ce  sont  souvent  des  etres  fantastiques,  d’  anciens 
dieux  transfigures,  ou  du  moins  des  combinaisons  de  personnages 
historiques  et  de  mythologie,  comme  saint  Georges.  Et  cette 
admirable  eglise  de  Sainte-Sophie  ! c’est  un  temple  arien  ; le  genre 
humain  tout  entier  pourrait  y faire  sa  priere.  N’ayant  pas  eu  de 
pape,  d’ inquisition,  de  scolastique,  de  moyen  age  barbare,  ayant 
toujours  garde  un  levain  d’arianisme,  la  Grece  lachera  plus  facile- 
mentqu’aucun  autre  pays  le  christianisme  surnaturel,  a peu  pres 
comme  ces  Atlieniens  d’  autrefois  etaient  en  meme  temps,  grace  a 
une  sorte  de  legerete,  mille  fois  plus  profonde  que  le  serieux  de  nos 
lourdes  races,  le  plus  superstitieux  des  peuples  et  le  plus  voisin  du 
rationalisme.  Les  chants  populaires  grecs  sont  encore  aujourd’hui 
pleins  d’ images  et  d’idees  pai'ennes.  A la  grande  difference  de 
f Occident,  l’Orient  garda  durant  tout  le  moyen  age  et  jusqu’aux 
temps  modernes  de  vrais  1 hellenistes,’  au  fond  plus  paiens  que 
chretiens,  vivants  du  culte  de  la  vieille  patrie  grecque  et  des  vieux 
auteurs.  Ces  hellenistes  sont,  au  xve  siecle,  les  agents  de  la  renais- 
sance de  f Occident,  auquel  ils  apportent  les  textes  grecs,  base  de 


150 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


of  that  unique  and  splendid  building,  the  cathedral 
of  S.  Mark  at  Venice.  But  yet  it  is  surprising  how 
little  we  notice  them  at  Athens.  I was  even  told — 
I sincerely  hope  it  Avas  false — that  public  opinion  at 
Athens  was  gravitating  toward  the  total  removal  of 
one,  and  that  the  most  perfect,  of  these  churches, 
which  stands  in  the  middle  of  a main  street,  and  so 
breaks  the  regularity  of  the  modern  boulevard  ! Let 
us  hope  that  the  man  who  lashes  himself  into  rage  at 
the  destruction  of  the  Venetian  tower  may  set  his 
face  in  time  against  this  real  piece  of  barbarism,  if 
indeed  it  ever  ventures  to  assert  itself  in  act.1 

I have  now  concluded  a review  of  the  most 
important  old  Greek  buildings  to  be  seen  about 
Athens.  To  treat  them  exhaustively  would  require 
a far  longer  discussion,  or  special  knowledge  which 
I do  not  possess ; and  there  are,  moreover,  smaller 
buildings,  like  the  so-called  Lantern  of  Demosthenes, 
which  is  really  the  Choragic  monument  of  Lysicrates, 
and  the  Temple  of  the  Winds,  Avhich  are  well  worth 

toute  civilization.  Le  meme  esprit  a preside  et  prisidera  aux  des- 
tinies de  la  Grece  nouvelle.  Quand  on  a bien  itudii  ce  qui  fait  de 
nos  jours  le  fond  d’ un  Hellene  cultivi,  on  voit  qu’il  y a chez  lui 
tres-peu  de  christianisme : il  est  chritien  de  forme,  comme  un 
Persan  est  musulman  ; mais  au  fond  il  est 1 helliniste.’  Sa  religion, 
c’est  1’ adoration  de  l’ancien  genie  grec.  Il  pardonne  toute  hirisie 
au  philhellene,  a celui  qui  admire  son  passi ; il  est  bien  moins 
disciple  de  Jisus  et  de  saint  Paul  que  de  Plutarque  et  de  Julien.” 

1 The  reader  will  find  in  my  last  chapter  some  further  informa- 
tion concerning  the  remains  of  mediaeval  Greece. 


ATH  ENS— CONCLUSION. 


151 


a visit,  but  which  the  traveller  can  find  without  a 
guide,  and  study  without  difficulty.  But  incom- 
pleteness must  be  an  unavoidable  defect  in  describ- 
ing any  city  in  which  new  discoveries  are  being 
made,  I may  say,  monthly,  and  when  the  museums 
and  excavations  of  to-day  may  be  any  day  com- 
pletely eclipsed  by  materials  now  unknown,  or 
scattered  through  the  country.  Thus,  on  my  second 
visit  to  Athens,  I found  in  the  National  Bank  the 
wonderful  treasures  exhumed  by  Dr.  Schliemann  at 
Mycense,  which  are  in  themselves  enough  to  induce 
any  student  of  Greek  antiquity  to  revisit  the  town, 
however  well  he  may  have  examined  it  in  former 
years.  On  my  third  visit,  they  were  arranged  and 
catalogued,  but  we  have  not  yet  attained  to  any  cer- 
tainty about  the  race  that  left  them  there,  and  how 
remote  the  antiquity  of  the  tombs.  These  considera- 
tions tend  not  only  to  vindicate  the  inadequateness 
of  this  review,  but  perhaps  even  to  justify  it  in  the 
eyes  of  the  exacting  reader,  who  may  have  expected 
a more  thorough  survey. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA — COLONUS— THE  HARBORS — 
LAURIUM SUNIUM. 

There  are  two  modern  towns  which,  in  natural 
features,  resemble  Athens.  The  irregular  ridge  of 
greater  Acropolis  and  lesser  Areopagus  remind  one 
of  the  castle  and  the  Monchsberg  of  Salzburg,  one 
of  the  few  towns  in  Europe  more  beautifully  situated 
than  Athens.  The  relation  of  the  Acropolis  to  the 
more  lofty  Lycabettus  suggests  the  castle  of  Edin- 
burgh and  Arthur’s  Seat.  But  here  the  advantage 
is  greatly  on  the  side  of  Athens. 

When  you  stand  on  the  Acropolis  and  look  round 
upon  Attica,  a great  part  of  its  history  becomes  im- 
mediately unravelled  and  clear.  You  see  at  once 
that  you  are  placed  in  the  principal  plain  of  the 
country,  surrounded  with  chains  of  mountains  in 
such  a way  that  it  is  easy  to  understand  the  old 
stories  of  wars  with  Eleusis,  or  with  Marathon,  or 
with  any  of  the  outlying  valleys.  Looking  inland 
on  the  north  side,  as  you  stand  beside  the  Erecli- 
theum,  you  see  straight  before  you,  at  a distance  of 
some  ten  miles,  Mount  Pentelicus,  from  which  all 
the  splendid  marble  was  once  carried  to  the  rock 

152 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


153 


around  you.  This  Pentelicus  is  a sort  of  intermedi- 
ate cross-chain  between  two  main  lines  which  di- 
verge from  either  side  of  it,  and  gradually  widen  so 
as  to  form  the  plain  of  Athens.  The  left  or  north- 
western chain  is  Mount  Parnes ; the  right  or  eastern 
is  Mount  Hymettus.  This  latter,  however,  is  only 
the  inner  margin  of  a large  mountainous  tract  which 
spreads  all  over  the  rest  of  South  Attica  down  to 
the  Cape  of  Sunium.  There  are,  of  course,  little 
valleys,  and  two  or  three  villages,  one  of  them  the 
old  deme  Brauron,  which  they  now  pronounce  Vra- 
vron.  There  is  the  town  of  Thorikos,  near  the 
mines  of  Laurium ; there  are  two  modern  villages 
called  Marcopoulos ; but  on  the  whole,  both  in  an- 
cient and  modern  times,  this  south-eastern  part  of 
Attica,  south  of  Hymettus,  was,  with  the  exception 
of  Laurium,  of  little  moment.  There  is  a gap 
between  Pentelicus  and  Hymettus,  nearly  due  north, 
through  which  the  way  leads  out  to  Marathon ; and 
you  can  see  the  spot  where  the  bandits  surprised 
in  1870  the  unfortunate  gentlemen  who  fell  victims 
to  the  vacillation  and  incompetence  of  people  in 
power  at  that  time. 

On  the  left  side  of  Pentelicus  you  see  the  chain 
of  Parnes,  which  almost  closes  with  it  at  a far  dis- 
tance, and  which  stretches  down  all  the  north-west 
side  of  Attica  till  it  runs  into  the  sea  as  Mount 
Corydallus,  opposite  to  the  island  of  Salamis.  In 
this  long  chain  of  Parnes  (which  can  only  be 


154 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


avoided  by  going  up  to  the  northern  coast  at  Oropus, 
and  passing  into  Boeotia  close  by  the  sea)  there  are 
three  passes  or  lower  points,  one  far  to  the  north — 
that  by  Dekelea,  where  the  present  king  has  his 
country  palace,  but  where  of  old  Alcibiades  planted 
the  Spartan  garrison  which  tormented  and  ruined 
the  farmers  of  Attica.  This  pass  leads  you  out 
to  Tanagra  in  Boeotia.  Next  to  the  south,  some 
miles  nearer,  is  the  even  more  famous  pass  of  Phyle, 
from  which  Thrasybulus  and  his  brave  fellows  re- 
covered Athens  and  its  liberty.  This  pass,  when 
you  reach  its  summit,  looks  into  the  northern  point 
of  the  Thriasian  plain,  and  also  into  the  wilder 
regions  of  Cithseron,  which  border  Boeotia.  The 
third  pass,  and  the  lowest — but  a few  miles  beyond 
the  groves  of  Academe — is  the  pass  of  Daphne, 
which  was  the  high  road  to  Eleusis,  along  which  the 
sacred  processions  passed  in  the  times  of  the  Mys- 
teries ; and  in  this  pass  you  still  see  the  numerous 
niches  in  which  native  tablets  had  been  set  by  the 
worshippers  at  a famous  temple  of  Aphrodite. 

On  this  side  of  Attica  also,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Thriasian  plain  and  of  Eleusis,  there  extends 
outside  Mount  Parnes  a wild  mountainous  district, 
quite  alpine  in  character,  which  severs  Attica  from 
Boeotia,  not  by  a single  row  of  mountains,  or  by  a 
single  pass,  but  by  a succession  of  glens  and  defiles 
which  at  once  explain  to  the  classical  student,  when 
he  sees  them,  how  necessary  and  fundamental  were 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


155 


the  divisions  of  Greece  into  its  separate  districts, 
and  how  completely  different  in  character  the  inhab- 
itants of  each  were  sure  to  be.  The  way  from 
Attica  into  Boeotia  was  no  ordinary  high  road,  nor 
even  a pass  over  one  mountain,  but  through  a series 
of  glens  and  valleys  and  defiles,  at  any  of  which  a 
hostile  army  could  be  stopped,  and  each  of  which 
severed  the  country  on  either  side  by  a difficult  ob- 
stacle. This  truly  alpine  nature  of  Greece  is  only 
felt  when  we  see  it,  and  yet  must  ever  be  kept  before 
the  mind  in  estimating  the  character  and  energy  of 
the  race.  But  let  us  return  to  our  view  from  the 
Acropolis. 

If  we  turn  and  look  southward,  we  see  a broken 
country,  with  several  low  hills  between  us  and  the 
sea — hills  tolerably  well  cultivated,  and  when  I saw 
them  in  May  all  colored  with  golden  stubbles,  for 
the  corn  had  just  been  reaped.  But  all  the  plain  in 
every  direction  seems  dry  and  dusty  j arid,  too,  and 
not  rich  alluvial  soil,  like  the  plains  of  Boeotia.  Then 
Thucydides’s  words  come  back  to  us,  when  he  says 
Attica  was  u undisturbed  on  account  of  the  lightness 
of  its  soil v (d.OTaalaaxoq,  obaa  dta  to  ^£7rr6ye&>v),  as 
early  invaders  rather  looked  out  for  richer  pastures. 
This  reflection,  too,  of  Thucydides  applies  equally 
to  the  mountains  of  Attica  round  Athens,  which  are 
not  covered  with  rich  grass  and  dense  shrubs,  like 
Helicon,  like  Parnassus,  like  the  glades  of  Arcadia, 
but  seem  so  bare  that  we  wonder  where  the  bees  of 


156 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Hymettus  can  find  food  for  their  famous  honey.  It 
is  only  when  the  traveller  ascends  the  rocky  slopes 
of  the  mountain  that  he  finds  its  rugged  surface 
carpeted  with  quantities  of  little  wild  flowers,  too 
insignificant  to  give  the  slightest  color  to  the  moun- 
tain, but  sufficient  for  the  bees,  which  are  still  mak- 
ing their  honey  as  of  old.  This  honey  of  Hymettus, 
which  was  our  daily  food  at  Athens,  is  now  not  very 
remarkable  either  for  color  or  flavor.  It  is  very 
dark,  and  not  by  any  means  so  good  as  the  honey 
produced  in  other  parts  of  Greece — not  to  say 
on  the  heather  hills  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.  I 
tasted  honey  at  Thebes  and  at  Corinth  which  was 
much  better,  especially  that  of  Corinth  made  in  the 
hills  toward  Cleonse,  where  the  whole  country  is 
scented  with  thyme,  and  where  thousands  of  bees 
are  buzzing  eagerly  through  the  summer  air.  But 
when  the  old  Athenians  are  found  talking  so  much 
about  honey,  we  must  not  forget  that  sugar  was 
unknown  to  them,  and  that  all  their  sweetmeats 
depended  upon  honey  exclusively.  Hence  the 
culture  and  use  of  it  assumed  an  importance  not 
easily  understood  among  moderns,  who  are  in  pos- 
session of  the  sugar-cane. 

But  amid  all  the  dusty  and  bare  features  of  the 
view,  the  eye  fastens  with  delight  on  one  great  broad 
band  of  dark  green,  which,  starting  from  the  west 
side  of  Pentelicus,  close  to  Mount  Parnes  in  the 
north,  sweeps  straight  down  the  valley,  passing  about 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


157 


two  miles  to  the  west  of  Athens,  and  reaching  to  the 
Peiraeus.  This  is  the  plain  of  the  Kepliissus,  and 
these  are  the  famous  olive  woods  which  contain  with 
them  the  deme  Colonus,  so  celebrated  by  Sophocles, 
and  the  groves  of  Academe,  at  their  nearest  point  to 
the  city.  The  dust  of  Athens,  and  the  bareness  of 
the  plain,  make  all  walks  about  the  town  disagree- 
able, save  either  the  ascent  of  Lycabettus,  or  a 
ramble  into  these  olive  woods.  The  River  Ivephis- 
sus,  which  waters  them,  is  a respectable,  though 
narrow  river,  even  in  summer  often  discharging  a 
good  deal  of  water,  but  much  divided  into  trenches 
and  arms,  which  are  very  convenient  for  irrigation.1 
So  there  is  a strip  of  country,  fully  ten  miles  long, 
and  perhaps  two  wide  on  the  average,  which  affords 
delicious  shade  and  greenness  and  the  song  of  birds, 
instead  of  hot  sunlight  and  dust  and  the  shrill  clamor 
of  the  tettix  without. 

I have  wandered  many  hours  in  these  delightful 
woods  listening  to  the  nightingales,  which  sing  all 
day  in  the  deep  shade  and  solitude,  as  it  were  in  a 
prolonged  twilight,  and  hearing  the  plane-tree 
whispering  to  the  elm,2  as  Aristophanes  has  it,  and 

1 I have  seen  it  very  full  in  June  ; I have  also  seen  it  almost 
dry  in  April,  so  that  it  depends  upon  the  season  whether  the 
traveller  will  enjoy  the  coolness  of  the  river,  or  turn  with  disap- 
pointment from  its  stony  bed. 

2 On  a fine  summer’s  day,  in  the  meadows  about  Eton,  I was 
struck  with  the  truth  of  this  phrase.  A light  breeze  Was  making 
all  the  poplars  shiver  beside  the  great  elms,  which  stood  in  silence. 


158 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


seeing  the  white  poplar  show  its  silvery  leaves  in  the 
breeze,  and  wondering  whether  the  huge  old  olive 
stems,  so  like  the  old  pollarded  stumps  in  Windsor 
Forest,  could  be  the  actual  sacred  trees,  the  / loptat , 
under  which  the  youth  of  Athens  ran  their  races. 
The  banks  of  the  Kephissus,  too,  are  lined  with 
great  reeds,  and  sedgy  marsh  plants,  which  stoop 
over  into  its  sandy  shallows  and  wave  idly  in  the 
current  of  its  stream.  The  ouzel  and  the  kingfisher 
start  from  under  one’s  feet,  and  bright  fish  move  out 
lazily  from  their  sunny  bay  into  the  deeper  pool. 
Now  and  then  through  a vista  the  Acropolis  shows 
itself  in  a framework  of  green  foliage,  nor  do  I know 
any  more  enchanting  view  of  that  great  ruin. 

All  the  ground  under  the  dense  olive-trees  was 
covered  with  standing  corn,  for  here,  as  in  Southern 
Italy,  the  shade  of  trees  seems  no  hindrance  to  the 
ripening  of  the  ear.  But  there  was  here  thicker 
wood  than  in  Italian  corn-fields ; on  the  other  hand, 
there  was  not  that  rich  festooning  of  vines  which 
spread  from  tree  to  tree,  and  which  give  a Neapol- 
itan summer  landscape  so  peculiar  a charm.  A few 
homesteads  there  were  along  the  roads,  and  even  at 
one  of  the  bridges  a children’s  school,  full  of  those 
beautiful  fair  children  whose  heads  remind  one  so 
strongly  of  the  old  Greek  statues.  But  all  the 
houses  were  walled  in,  and  many  of  them  seemed 
solitary  and  deserted.  The  memories  of  rapine  and 
violence  were  still  there.  I was  told,  indeed,  that 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


159 


no  country  in  Europe  was  so  secure,  and  I confess 
I found  it  so  myself  in  my  wanderings ; but  when 
we  see  how  every  disturbance  or  war  on  the  fron- 
tier revives  again  the  rumor  of  brigandage,  I 
could  not  help  feeling  that  the  desert  state  of  the 
land,  and  the  general  sense  of  insecurity,  however 
irrational  in  the  intervals  of  peace,  was  not  sur- 
prising. 

There  is  no  other  excursion  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Athens  of  any  like  beauty  or  interest. 
The  older  buildings  in  the  Peirseus  are  completely 
gone.  No  trace  of  the  docks  or  the  deigma  remains; 
and  the  splendid  walls,  built  as  Thucydides  tells  us 
with  cut  stone,  without  mortar  or  mud,  and  fastened 
with  clamps  of  iron  fixed  with  lead — this  splendid 
structure  has  been  almost  completely  destroyed. 
We  can  find,  indeed,  elsewhere  in  Attica — at  Phyle 
— still  better  at  Eleutherse — specimens  of  this  sort  of 
building,  but  at  the  Peirseus  there  are  only  founda- 
tions remaining.  Yet  it  is  not  really  true  that  the 
great  wall  surrounding  the  Peirseus  has  totally  dis- 
appeared. Even  at  the  mouth  of  the  harbor  single 
stones  may  be  seen  lying  along  the  rocky  edge  of 
the  water,  of  which  the  size  and  the  square  cutting 
prove  the  use  for  which  they  were  originally  in- 
tended. But  if  the  visitor  to  the  Peirseus  will  take 
the  trouble  to  cross  the  hill,  and  walk  round  the 
harbor  of  Munychia,  he  will  find  on  the  eastern 
point  of  the  headland  a neat  little  cafe,  with  com- 


160 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


fortable  seats,  and  with  a beautiful  view.  The  sea 
coast  all  round  this  headland  shows  the  bed  of  the 
surrounding  sea  wall,  hewn  in  the  live  rock.  The 
actual  structure  is  preserved  in  patches  on  the  west- 
ern point  of  this  harbor,  where  the  coast  is  very 
steep ; but  in  the  place  to  which  I refer,  we  can 
trace  the  whole  course  of  the  wall  a few  feet  above 
the  water,  cut  out  in  the  solid  rock.  I know  no 
scanty  specimen  of  Athenian  work  which  gives  a 
greater  idea  of  the  enormous  wealth  and  energy  of 
the  city.  The  port  of  Munychia  had  its  own  theatre 
and  temples,  and  it  was  here  that  Pausanias  saw  the 
altar  to  the  gods  called  the  unknown.  The  traces  of 
the  sea  wall  cease  as  soon  as  it  reaches  the  actual 
narrow  mouth  of  the  little  harbor.  I do  not  know 
how  far  toward  Phalerum  it  can  be  traced,  but 
when  visiting  the  harbor  called  Zea1  on  another 
occasion,  I did  not  observe  it.  The  reader  will  find 
in  any  ancient  atlas,  or  in  any  history  of  Greece,  a 
map  of  the  harbors  of  Athens,  so  that  I think  it 
unnecessary  to  append  one  here. 

The  striking  feature  in  the  present  Peiraeus,  which 
from  the  entrance  of  the  harbor  is  very  picturesque, 
is  undoubtedly  the  rapid  growth  and  extension  of 

1 This  was  the  military  harbor,  at  least  in  the  fourth  century, 
b.  c.,  when  the  architect  Philo  built  a famous  arsenal  (okcvoO^kt/) 
at  its  north-east  corner,  of  which  the  plan  and  even  details  have 
been  reconstructed  by  Dr.  Dbrpfeld  from  an  important  inscription 
recovered  in  1881. 


The  Peiraeus 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


161 


factories,  with  English  machinery  and  overseers. 
When  last  there  I found  fourteen  of  these  establish- 
ments, and  their  chimneys  were  becoming  quite  a 
normal  feature  in  Greek  landscape.  Those  which  I 
visited  were  working  up  the  cotton  and  the  wool  of 
the  country  into  calico  and  other  stuffs,  which  are 
unfortunately  coming  into  fashion  among  the  lower 
classes,  and  ousting  the  old  costume.  I was  in- 
formed that  boys  were  actually  forbidden  to  attend 
school  in  Greek  dress,  a regulation  which  astonishes 
any  one  who  knows  the  beauty  and  dignity  of  the 
national  costume. 

A drive  to  the  open  roadstead  of  Phalerum  is  more 
repaying.  Here  it  is  interesting  to  observe  how  the 
Athenians  passed  by  the  nearest  sea,  and  even  an 
open  and  clear  roadstead,  in  order  to  join  their  city 
to  the  better  harbor  and  more  defensible  headland  of 
Peirseus.  Phalerum,  as  they  now  call  it,  though 
they  spell  it  with  an  j y,  is  the  favorite  bathing-place 
of  modern  Athens,  with  an  open-air  theatre,  and  is 
about  a mile  and  a half  nearer  the  city  than  Peirseus. 
The  water  is  shallow,  and  the  beach  is  of  fine  sand, 
so  that  for  ancient  ships,  which  I suppose  drew  little 
water,  it  was  a convenient  landing-place,  especially 
for  the  disembarking  of  troops,  who  could  choose 
their  place  anywhere  around  a large  crescent,  and 
actually  land  fighting,  if  necessary.  But  the  walls 
of  Athens,  the  long  walls  to  Peirseus,  and  its  lofty 
fortifications,  made  this  roadstead  of  no  use  to  the 
11 


162 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


enemy  so  long  as  Athens  held  the  command  of 
the  sea,  and  could  send  out  ships  from  the  secure 
little  harbors  of  Zea  and  Munychia,  which  are  on 
the  east  side  and  in  the  centre  of  the  headland  of 
Peirseus.  There  was  originally  a third  wall,  too, 
to  the  east  side  of  the  Phaleric  bay,  but  this  seems 
to  have  been  early  abandoned  when  the  second  long 
wall,  or  middle  wall,  as  it  was  originally  called,  was 
completed. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Peloponnesian  war  it 
appears  that  the  Athenians  defended  against  the 
Lacedaemonians,  not  the  two  long  walls  which  ran 
close  together  and  parallel  to  Peirseus,  but  the  north- 
ern of  these,  and  the  far  distant  Phaleric  wall.  It 
cannot  but  strike  any  observer  as  extraordinary  how 
the  Athenians  should  undertake  such  an  enormous 
task.  Had  the  enemy  attacked  anywhere  suddenly 
and  with  vigor,  it  seems  hard  to  understand  how 
they  could  have  kept  him  out.  According  to 
Thucydides’s  accurate  detail,1  the  wall  to  Phalerum 
was  nearly  four  miles,  that  to  Peirseus  four  and  a 
half.  There  were  in  addition  five  miles  of  city  wall, 
and  nearly  three  of  Peirseus  w'all.  That  is  to  say, 
there  were  about  seventeen  miles  of  wall  to  be  pro- 

1 Thucydides,  followed  by  modern  historians,  has  nevertheless 
been  inaccurate  in  his  use  of  the  expression  Itong  Walls.  He 
sometimes  means  the  north  and  Phaleric  wall,  sometimes  the 
north  and  south  parallel  walls,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Phaleric 
wall.  The  long  walls  rebuilt  by  Conon  were  the  latter  pair,  and 
thus  not  the  same  long  walls  as  were  finished  in  456  b.  c. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


163 


tected.  This  is  not  all.  The  circuit  was  not  closed, 
but  separated  by  about  a mile  of  beach  between 
Peirseus  and  Phalerum,  so  that  the  defenders  of  the 
two  extremities  could  in  no  way  promptly  assist 
each  other.  Thucydides  tells  us  that  a garrison  of 
16,000  inferior  soldiers,  old  men,  boys,  and  metics , 
sufficed  to  do  this  work.  We  are  forced  to  conclude 
that  not  only  were  the  means  of  attacking  walls 
curiously  incomplete,  but  even  the  dash  and  enter- 
prise of  modern  warfare  cannot  have  been  under- 
stood by  the  Greeks.  For  we  never  hear  of  even  a 
bold  attempt  on  this  absurdly  straggling  fortification, 
far  less  of  any  successful  attempt  to  force  it. 

But  it  is  time  that  we  should  leave  the  environs 
of  Athens,1  and  wander  out  beyond  the  borders  of 
the  Athenian  plain  into  the  wilder  outlying  parts 
of  the  land.  Attica  is,  after  all,  a large  country, 
if  one  does  not  apply  railway  measures  to  it.  We 
think  thirty  miles  by  rail  very  little,  but  thirty 
miles  by  road  is  a long  distance,  and  implies 
land  enough  to  support  a large  population  and  to 
maintain  many  flourishing  towns.  We  can  wander 
thirty  miles  from  Athens  through  Attica  in  several 
directions — to  Eleutherse,  on  the  western  Boeotian 
frontier ; to  Oropus,  on  the  north ; and  Sunium,  on 

1 The  reader  who  desires  to  see  the  best  poetical  picture  of 
modern  Athens  should  consult  the  tenth  chapter  in  Mr.  Symonds’s 
Sketches  in  Italy  and  Greece — one  of  the  most  beautiful  productions 
of  that  charming  poet  in  prose. 


164 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  south.  Thus  it  is  only  when  one  endeavors  to 
know  Attica  minutely  that  one  finds  how  much  there 
is  to  be  seen,  and  how  long  a time  is  required  to  see 
it.  And  fortunately  enough  there  is  an  expedition, 
and  that  not  the  least  important,  where  we  can  avoid 
the  rough  paths  and  rougher  saddles  of  the  country, 
and  coast  in  a steamer  along  a district  at  all  times 
obscure  in  history,  and  seldom  known  for  anything 
except  for  being  the  road  to  Sunium.  Strabo  gives 
a list  of  the  denies  along  this  seaboard,1  and  seems 
only  able  to  write  one  fact  about  them — a line  from 
an  old  oracle  in  the  days  of  the  Persian  war,  which 
prophesied  that  u the  women  of  Colias  will  roast 
their  corn  with  oars,” 2 alluding  to  the  wrecks  driven 
on  shore  here  by  the  northwest  wind  from  Salamis. 
Even  the  numerous  little  islands  along  this  coast 
were  in  his  day,  as  they  now  are,  perfectly  barren. 
Yet  with  all  its  desolation  it  is  exceedingly  pictu- 
resque and  varied  in  outline. 

We  took  ship  in  the  little  steamer3  belonging  to 
the  Sunium  Mining  Company,  who  have  built  a 
village  called  Ergasteria,  between  Thorikos  and  the 
promontory,  and  who  were  obliging  enough  to  allow 
us  to  sail  in  the  boat  intended  for  their  private 
traffic.  We  left  the  Peirseus  on  one  of  those  pecu- 
liarly Greek  mornings,  with  a blue  sky  and  very 

1 ix.  \ i.  p.  244  (Tauchn.). 

2 He  reads,  however,  (ppigovm,  instead  of  Herodotus’  s <f>pv!jovoi . 

3 There  is  now  a railway  from  Athens  to  the  mines  (1887). 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


165 


bright  sun,  but  with  an  east  wind  so  strong  and 
clear,  so  Xafinpoz,  as  the  old  Greeks  would  say,  that 
the  sea  was  driven  into  long  white  crests,  and  the 
fishing-boats  were  lying  over  under  their  sails. 
These  fresh  and  strong  winds,  which  are  constantly 
blowing  in  Greece,  save  the  people  very  much  from 
the  bad  effects  of  a very  hot  southern  climate. 
Even  when  the  temperature  is  high  the  weather  is 
seldom  sultry ; and  upon  the  sea,  which  intrudes 
everywhere,  one  can  always  find  a cool  and  refresh- 
ing atmosphere.  The  Greeks  seem  not  the  least  to 
fear  these  high  winds,  which  are  generally  steady 
and  seldom  turn  to  squalls.  The  smallest  boats  are 
to  be  seen  scudding  along  on  great  journeys  from 
one  island  to  another — often  with  a single  occupant, 
who  sits  holding  the  helm  with  one  hand,  and  the 
stern  sheet  with  the  other.  All  the  ferry-boats  in 
the  Peirseus  are  managed  in  this  way,  and  you 
may  see  their  great  sails,  like  sea-gulls’  wings,  lean- 
ing over  in  the  gale,  and  the  spray  dashing  from  the 
vessel’s  prow.  We  met  a few  larger  vessels  coming 
up  from  Syra,  but  on  the  whole  the  sea  was  well- 
nigh  as  desert  as  the  coast ; so  much  so,  that  the 
faithful  dog,  which  was  on  board  each  of  those  boats, 
thought  it  his  serious  duty  to  stand  up  on  the  taffrail 
and  bark  at  us  as  a strange  and  doubtful  company. 

So,  after  passing  many  natural  harbors  and  spa- 
cious bays,  many  rocky  headlands  and  bluff  islands — 
but  all  desert  and  abandoned  by  track  of  man,  we 


166 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


approached  the  famous  cape,  from  which  the  white 
pillars  of  the  lofty  old  temple  gleamed  brilliantly 
in  the  sun.  They  were  the  first  and  only  white 
marble  pillars  which  I saw  in  Greece.  Elsewhere, 
dust  and  age,  if  not  the  hand  of  man,  have  colored 
that  splendid  material  with  a dull  golden  hue ; but 
here  the  sea  breeze,  while  eating  away  much  of  the 
surface,  has  not  soiled  them  with  its  fresh  brine,  and 
so  they  still  remain  of  the  color  which  they  had 
when  they  were  set  up.  We  should  fain  conjecture 
that  here,  at  all  events,  the  Greeks  had  not  applied 
the  usual  blue  and  red  to  decorate  this  marvellous 
temple  j that — for  the  delight  and  benefit  of  the 
sailors,  who  hailed  it  from  afar,  as  the  first  sign  of 
Attica — its  brilliant  white  color  was  left  to  it,  to 
render  it  a brighter  beacon  and  a clearer  object  in 
twilight  and  in  mist.  I will  not  yet  describe  it,  for 
we  paid  it  a special  visit,  and  must  speak  of  it  in 
greater  detail  • but  even  now,  when  we  coasted 
round  the  headland,  and  looked  up  to  its  shining 
pillars  standing  far  aloft  into  the  sky,  it  struck  us 
with  the  most  intense  interest.  It  was  easy,  indeed, 
to  see  how  Byron’s  poetic  mind  was  here  inspired 
with  some  of  his  noblest  lines. 

When  we  turned  from  it  seaward,  we  saw 
stretched  out  in  echelon  that  chain  of  Cyclades,  which 
are  but  a prolongation  of  the  headland — Keos, 
Kyphnos,  Seriphos,  Siphnos,  and  in  the  far  distance, 
Melos — Melos,  the  scene  of  Athens’s  violence  and 


EXCUKSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


167 


cruelty,  when  she  filled  up,  in  the  mind  of  the  old 
historian,  the  full  measure  of  her  iniquity.  And  as 
we  turned  northward,  the  long  island,  or  islet,  of 
Helena,  which  stretches  along  the  point,  like  Hydra 
off  that  of  Argolis,  could  not  hide  from  us  the 
mountain  ranges  of  Euboea,  still  touched  here  and 
there  with  snow.  A short  run  against  the  wind 
brought  us  to  the  port  of  Ergasteria,  marked  very 
strangely  in  the  landscape  by  the  smoke  of  its 
chimneys — the  port  where  the  present  produce  of 
the  mines  of  Laurium  is  prepared  and  shipped  for 
Scotland. 

Here,  at  last,  we  found  ourselves  again  among 
men ; three  thousand  operatives,  many  of  them  with 
families,  make  quite  a busy  town  of  Ergasteria. 
And  I could  not  but  contrast  their  bold  and  inde- 
pendent looks,  rough  and  savage  as  they  seemed, 
with  what  must  have  been  the  appearance  of  the 
droves  of  slaves  who  worked  the  mines  in  old  days. 
We  were  rowed  ashore  from  our  steamer  by  two  men 
called  Aristides  and  Epaminondas,  but  I cannot  say 
that  their  looks  betokened  either  the  justice  of  the 
one  or  the  culture  of  the  other. 

We  found  ourselves  when  we  landed  in  an  awk- 
ward predicament.  The  last  English  engineer  re- 
maining in  the  Mining  Company,  at  whose  invitation 
we  had  ventured  into  this  wild  district,  had  suddenly 
left,  that  morning,  for  Athens.  His  house  was  shut 
up,  and  we  were  left  friendless  and  alone,  among 


168 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


three  thousand  of  these  Aristideses  and  Epaminon- 
dases,  whose  appearance  was,  as  I have  said,  anything 
but  reassuring.  We  did  what  was  best  to  meet  the 
difficulty,  and  what  was  not  only  the  best  thing  to 
do,  but  the  only  thing,  and  it  turned  out  very  well 
indeed.  We  went  to  the  temporary  director  of  the 
mines,  a very  polished  gentleman,  with  a charming 
wife,  both  of  whom  spoke  French  excellently.  We 
stated  our  case,  and  requested  hospitality  for  the 
night.  Nothing  could  be  more  friendly  than  our 
reception.  This  benevolent  man  and  his  wife  took 
us  into  their  own  house,  prepared  rooms  for  us,  and 
promised  to  let  us  see  all  the  curiosities  of  the 
country.  Thus  our  misfortune  became,  in  fact,  a 
very  good  fortune.  The  night,  however,  it  must  be 
confessed,  was  spent  in  a very  unequal  conflict  with 
mosquitoes — an  inconvenience  which  our  good  host- 
ess in  vain  endeavored  to  obviate  by  giving  us  a 
strong-smelling  powder  to  burn  in  our  room,  and 
shutting  all  the  windows.  But  had  the  remedy  been 
even  successful,  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  it  was 
not  worse  than  the  disease. 

We  started  in  the  morning  by  a special  train — for 
the  company  have  a private  line  from  the  coast  up 
to  the  mines — to  ascend  the  wooded  and  hilly 
country  into  the  region  so  celebrated  of  old  as  one 
of  the  main  sources  of  Athenian  wealth.  As  the 
train  wound  its  way  round  the  somewhat  steep 
ascent,  our  prospect  over  the  sea  and  its  islands 


Laurium 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


169 


became  larger  and  more  varied.  The  wild  rocks  and 
forests  of  southern  Euboea — one  of  the  few  districts 
in  Greece  which  seem  to  have  been  as  savage  and 
deserted  in  old  days  as  they  are  now — detached 
themselves  from  the  intervening  island  of  Helena. 
We  were  told  that  wild  boars  were  still  to  be  found 
in  Euboea.  In  the  hills  about  Laurium,  hares,  which 
Xenophon  so  loved  to  hunt  in  his  Elean  retreat,  and 
turtle  doves,  seemed  the  only  game  attainable.  All 
the  hills  were  covered  with  stunted  underwood. 

The  mines  of  Laurium  appear  very  suddenly  in 
Attic  history,  but  from  that  time  onward  are  a 
prominent  part  of  the  wealth  of  the  Athenians. 
We  know  that  in  Solon’s  day  there  was  great 
scarcity  of  money,  and  that  he  was  obliged  to  de- 
preciate the  value  of  the  coinage — a very  violent 
and  unprecedented  measure,  never  repeated ; for,  all 
through  later  history,  Attic  silver  was  so  good  that 
it  circulated  at  a premium  in  foreign  parts  just  as 
English  money  does  now.  Accordingly,  in  Solon’s 
time  we  hear  no  mention  of  this  great  and  almost 
inexhaustible  source  of  national  wealth.  All  through 
the  reign  of  the  Peisistratids  there  is  a like  silence. 
Suddenly,  after  the  liberation  of  Athens,  we  hear  of 
Themistocles  persuading  the  people  to  apply  the 
very  large  revenue  from  these  mines  to  the  building 
of  a fleet  for  the  purpose  of  the  war  with  iEgina.1 

1 The  earliest  allusion  to  them  is  a line  in  Aeschylus’s  Persce, 
where  they  come  in  so  peculiarly,  and  without  any  natural  sugges- 


170 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


The  so-called  Xenophon  On  the  Attic  Bevenues — a 
tract  which  is  almost  altogether  about  these  mines — 
asserts  indeed  that  they  had  been  worked  from 
remote  antiquity  ; and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
here,  as  elsewhere  in  Greece,  the  Phoenicians  had 
been  the  forerunners  of  the  natives  in  the  art  of 
mining.  Here,  as  in  Thasos,  I believe  the  Phoeni- 
cians had  their  settlements ; and  possibly  a closer 
survey  of  the  great  underground  passages,  which 
are  still  there,  may  give  us  some  proof  by  inscrip- 
tions or  otherwise. 

But  what  happened  after  the  Semitic  traders  had 
been  expelled  from  Greek  waters  f — for  expelled 
they  were,  though,  perhaps,  far  later  from  some 
remote  and  unexplored  points  than  we  usually 
imagine.  I suppose  that  when  this  took  place 
Athens  was  by  no  means  in  a condition  to  think 
about  prosecuting  trade  at  Sunium.  Salamis,  which 
was  far  closer  and  a more  obvious  possession,  was 
only  conquered  in  Solon’s  day,  after  a long  and 

tion,  that  they  must  have  been  in  his  day  a new  and  surprising 
source  of  wealth.  Atossa  is  inquiring  of  the  chorus  about  Athens, 
and  whether  it  possesses  any  considerable  wealth.  The  chorus 
replies  (v.  238) : 

apyvpov  irriyi]  nq  avroiq  sort,  dyaavpog  x®0V°S- 

This  inference  of  mine,  made  years  ago,  is  now  strongly  confirmed 
by  the  recovered  Polity  of  the  Athenians , which  says  (chap,  xxii.) : 
“In  the  archonship  of  Nicodemus  [484-3  b.  c.],  when  the  mines 
at  Maroneia  [as  lie  calls  them]  were  discovered  ( e<pavy),  and  there 
was  a profit  of  100  talents  from  the  work,  Themistocles,,,  etc. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


171 


tedious  struggle ; and  I am  perfectly  certain  that 
the  Athenians  could  have  had  no  power  to  hold  an 
outlying  dependency,  separated  by  thirty  miles  of 
the  roughest  mountain  country,  when  they  had  not 
subdued  an  island  scarcely  a mile  from  the  Thriasian 
plain  and  not  ten  miles  from  Athens.  I take  it, 
then,  that  the  so-called  (Juvocxht/wZj  or  unifying  of 
Athens,  in  prehistoric  times,  by  Theseus,  or  who- 
ever did  it,  was  not  a cementing  of  all  Attica,  in- 
cluding these  remote  corners,  but  only  of  the  settle- 
ments about  the  plains  of  Attica,  Marathon,  and 
Eleusis j and  that  the  southern  end  of  the  peninsula 
was  not  included  in  the  Athens  of  early  days.  It  was, 
in  fact,  only  accessible  by  a carefully  constructed 
artificial  road,  such  as  we  hear  of  afterward,  or  by 
sea.  The  Athenians  had  not  either  of  these  means 
of  access  at  so  early  a period.  And  it  is  not  a little 
remarkable  that  the  first  mention  of  their  ownership 
of  the  silver  mines  is  associated  with  the  building  of 
a fleet  to  contend  with  iEgina.  I have  no  doubt 
that  Themistocles’s  advice  has  been  preserved  with- 
out his  reasons  for  it.  He  persuaded  the  Athenians 
to  surrender  their  surplus  revenue  from  Laurium,  to 
build  ships  against  the  iEginetans,  simply  because 
they  found  that  without  ships  the  iEginetans  would 
be  practically  sole  possessors  of  the  mines.  They 
were  far  closer  to  Laurium  by  sea  than  Athens  was 
by  land — closer,  indeed,  in  every  way — and  I am 
led  to  suspect  that,  in  the  days  before  Solon,  the 


172 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


mines  may  have  been  secretly  worked  by  iEgina, 
and  not  by  Athens.  I cannot  here  enter  into  my 
full  reasons,  but  I fancy  that  Peisistratus  and  his 
sons — not  by  conquest,  but  by  some  agreement — got 
practical  possession  of  the  mines,  and  were,  perhaps, 
the  first  to  make  all  Attica  really  subject  to  the 
power  of  Athens.1  But  no  sooner  are  they  expelled 
than  the  iEginetans  renew  their  attacks  or  claims  on 
Laurium ; and  it  is  only  the  Athenian  fleet  which 
secures  to  Athens  its  possession.  We  hear  of  pro- 
ceedings of  Hippias  about  coinage,2  which  are 
adduced  by  Aristotle  as  specimens  of  injustice,  or 
sharp  practice,  and  which  may  have  something  to 
do  with  the  acquisition  of  the  silver  mines  by  his 
dynasty.  But  I must  cut  short  this  serious  disser- 
tation. 

Our  special  train  brought  us  up  slowly  round 
wooded  heights,  and  through  rich  green  brakes,  into 
a lonely  country,  from  which  glimpses  of  the  sea 
could,  however,  still  be  seen,  and  glimpses  of  blue 
islands,  between  the  hills.  And  so  we  came  to  the 
settlements  of  the  modern  miners.  The  great  Com- 
pany, whose  guests  we  were,  had  been  started  some 

1 It  is  possible  that  in  the  days  of  Eretria’s  greatness,  when  she 
ruled  over  a number  of  the  Cyclades,  Eretrians  may  have  worked 
the  mines.  These  occupants  probably  preceded  the  A^ginetans. 
But  the  strange  thing  is,  that  the  mines  and  their  large  profits 
appear  suddenly,  and  as  a novelty,  at  a particular  point  of  Greek 
history. 

2 Arist.  CEcon.f  ii.  4. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


173 


years  ago,  by  French  and  Italian  speculators,  and 
Professor  Anstead  had  been  there  as  geologist  for 
some  years.  But  the  jealousy  of  the  Greeks,  when 
they  found  out  that  profit  was  rewarding  foreign 
enterprise,  caused  legislation  against  the  Company ; 
various  complications  followed,  so  that  at  last  they 
gladly  sold  their  interest  to  a native  Company.  In 
1887  this  Company  was  still  thriving ; and  I saw  in 
the  harbor  a large  vessel  from  Glasgow,  which  had 
come  to  carry  the  lead  to  Scotland,  when  prepared 
in  blocks — all  the  produce  being  still  bought  by  a 
single  English  firm. 

When  the  Greeks  discuss  these  negotiations  about 
the  mines  they  put  quite  a different  color  on  the 
affair.  They  say  that  the  French  and  Italians  de- 
sired to  evade  fair  payment  for  the  ground-rent  of 
the  mines,  trusting  to  the  strength  of  their  respective 
governments,  and  the  weakness  of  Greece.  The 
Company’s  policy  is  described  in  Greece  as  an  over- 
reaching, unscrupulous  attempt  to  make  great  profits 
by  sharp  bargains  with  the  natives,  who  did  not  know 
the  value  of  their  property.  A great  number  of 
obscure  details  are  adduced  in  favor  of  their  argu- 
ments, and  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  Greeks  were 
really  convinced  of  their  truth.  In  such  a matter 
it  would  be  unfair  to  decide  without  stating  both 
sides ; and  I am  quite  prepared  to  change  my  pres- 
ent conviction  that  the  Greeks  were  most  to  blame, 
if  proper  reasons  can  be  assigned.  But  the  legis- 


174 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


lative  Acts  passed  in  their  Parliament  look  very 
ugly  indeed  at  first  sight. 

The  principal  Laurium  Company  1 never  enter  the 
mines  at  all,  but  gather  the  great  mass  of  scoriae, 
which  the  old  Athenians  threw  out  after  smelting 
with  more  imperfect  furnaces  and  less  heat  than  ours. 
These  scoriae,  which  look  like  stone  cinders,  have 
been  so  long  there  that  some  vegetation  has  at  last 
grown  over  them,  and  the  traveller  does  not  sus- 
pect that  all  the  soil  around  was  raised  and  altered 
by  the  hand  of  man.  Owing  to  the  power  of  steam, 
and  their  railway,  the  present  miners  carry  down 
the  scoriae  on  trucks  to  the  sea-coast,  to  Ergasteria, 
and  there  smelt  them.  The  old  Athenians  had  their 
furnaces  in  the  middle  of  the  mountains,  where 
many  of  them  are  still  to  be  seen.  They  sought 
chiefly  for  silver,  whereas  the  modern  Company 
are  chiefly  in  pursuit  of  lead,  and  obtain  but  little 
silver  from  the  scoriae. 

In  many  places  you  come  upon  the  openings  of  the 
old  pits,  which  went  far  into  the  bowels  of  the  moun- 
tains, through  miles  of  underground  galleries  and 
passages.  Our  engine-driver — an  intelligent  French- 
man— stopped  the  train  to  show  us  one  of  these 
entrances,  which  went  down  almost  straight,  with 
good  steps  still  remaining,  into  the  earth.  lie  as- 
sured us  that  the  other  extremity  which  was  known, 

1 Since  I visited  the  place  there  are  actually  five  companies — 
two  Greek  and  three  French — established  to  work  the  district. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


175 


all  the  passage  being  open,  was  some  two  or  three 
miles  distant,  at  a spot  which  he  showed  us  from  a 
hill.  Hearing  that  inscriptions  were  found  in  these 
pits,  and  especially  that  the  name  of  Nicias  had  been 
discovered  there,  we  were  very  anxious  to  descend 
and  inspect  them.  This  was  promised  to  us,  for  the 
actual  pits  were  in  the  hands  of  another  Greek 
Company,  who  were  searching  for  new  veins  of 
silver.  But  when  we  arrived  at  the  spot  the  officers 
of  the  Company  were  unwilling  to  let  us  into  the 
pits.  The  proper  overseer  was  away — intentionally, 
of  course.  There  were  no  proper  candles ; there 
were  no  means  of  obtaining  admission : so  we  were 
balked  in  our  inquiry.  But  we  went  far  enough  into 
the  mouth  of  one  of  them  to  see  that  these  pits  were 
on  a colossal  scale,  well  arched  up ; and,  I suppose, 
had  we  gone  far  enough,  we  should  have  found 
the  old  supports,  of  which  the  Athenian  law  was  so 
careful. 

The  quantity  of  scorise  thrown  out,  which  seems 
now  perfectly  inexhaustible,  is  in  itself  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  enormous  scale  on  which  the  old 
mining  was  carried  on.  Thus,  we  do  not  in  the 
least  wonder  at  hearing  that  Nicias  had  one  thousand 
slaves  working  in  the  mines,  and  that  the  profits  ac- 
cruing to  the  State  from  the  fines  and  head-rents  of 
the  mines  were  very  large — on  a moderate  estimate, 
£8000  a year  of  our  money,  which  meant  in  those 
days  a great  deal  more. 


176 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


The  author  of  the  tract  on  “ Athenian  Revenue  99 
says  that  the  riches  of  the  mines  were  absolutely 
unbounded ; that  only  a small  part  of  the  silver  dis- 
trict had  been  worked  out,  though  the  digging  had 
gone  on  from  time  immemorial ; and  that  after  in- 
numerable laborers  had  been  employed  the  mines 
always  appeared  equally  rich,  so  that  no  limit  need 
be  put  on  the  employment  of  capital.  Still  he  speaks 
of  opening  a new  shaft  as  a most  risky  speculation. 
His  general  estimate  appears,  however,  somewhat 
exaggerated.  The  writer  confesses  that  the  number 
of  laborers  was  in  his  day  diminishing,  and  the 
majority  of  the  proprietors  were  then  beginners  5 so 
that  there  must  have  been  great  interruption  of  work 
during  the  Peloponnesian  War.  In  the  age  of  Philip 
there  were  loud  complaints  that  the  speculations  in 
mining  were  unsuccessful ; and  for  obtaining  silver, 
at  all  events,  no  reasonable  prospect  seems  to  have 
been  left.  In  the  first  century  of  our  era,  Strabo 
(ix.  i.  23)  says  that  these  once  celebrated  mines  were 
exhausted,1  that  new  mining  did  not  pay,  and  thus 
people  were  smelting  the  poorer  ore,  and  the  scoriae 
from  which  the  ancients  had  imperfectly  separated 
the  metal.  He  adds  that  the  main  product  of  the 
mining  district  was  in  his  day  honey,  which  was  es- 
pecially known  as  smokeless  (dxdzvKTTOp),  on  ac- 

1 There  is  also  a quotation  in  Strabo  (iii.  3,  g 9),  from  Deme- 
trius Plial.,  implying  their  activity  in  the  third  century  b.  c.  Plu- 
tarch ( de  defectu,  or.  43)  speaks  of  them  as  having  lately  failed. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


177 


count  of  its  good  preparation.  This  in  itself  shows 
that  the  mining  had  decayed,  for  now  all  the  flowers 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  smelting  are  killed  by 
the  black  fumes. 

Our  last  mention  of  the  place  in  olden  times  is 
that  of  Pausanias  (at  the  end  of  the  second  century 
A.  D.),  who  speaks  of  Laurium,  with  the  addition 
that  it  had  once  been  the  seat  of  the  Athenian  silver 
mines  ! 

There  is  but  one  more  point  suggested  by  these 
mines,  which  it  is  not  well  to  pass  over  when  we  are 
considering  the  working  of  them  in  ancient  times. 
Nothing  is  more  poisonous  than  the  smoke  from  lead- 
mines  j and  for  this  reason  the  people  at  Ergasteria 
have  built  a chimney  more  than  a mile  long  to  the 
top  of  a neighboring  hill,  where  the  smoke  escapes. 
Even  so,  when  the  wind  blows  back  the  smoke,  all 
the  vegetation  about  the  village  is  at  once  blighted, 
and  there  is  no  greater  difficulty  than  to  keep  a 
garden  within  two  or  three  miles  of  this  chimney. 
As  the  Athenians  did  not  take  such  precautions,  we 
are  not  surprised  to  hear  from  them  frequent  notices  of 
the  unhealthiness  of  the  district,  for  when  there  were 
many  furnaces,  and  the  smoke  was  not  drawn  away 
by  high  chimneys,  we  can  hardly  conceive  life  to 
have  been  tolerable.  What  then  must  have  been  the 
condition  of  the  gangs  of  slaves  which  Nicias  and 
other  respectable  and  pious  Athenians  kept  in  these 
mines  ? Two  or  three  allusions  give  us  a hideous 
12 


178 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


insight  into  this  great  social  sore,  which  has  not  been 
laid  bare,  because  the  wild  district  of  Laurium,  and 
the  deep  mines  under  its  surface,  have  concealed  the 
facts  from  the  ordinary  observer.  Nicias,  we  are 
told,  let  out  one  thousand  slaves  to  Sosias  the 
Thracian,  at  an  obolus  a day  each — the  lessee 
being  bound  to  restore  them  to  him  the  same  in 
number. 

The  meaning  of  this  frightful  contract  is  only  too 
plain.  The  yearly  rent  paid  for  each  slave  was 
about  half  the  full  price  paid  for  him  in  the  market. 
It  follows  that,  if  the  slave  lived  for  three  years, 
Nicias  made  a profit  of  50  per  cent,  on  his  outlay. 
No  doubt,  some  part  of  this  extraordinary  bargain 
must  be  explained  by  the  great  profits  which  an 
experienced  miner  could  make — a fact  supported 
by  the  tract  on  the  Revenues,  which  cannot  date 
more  than  a generation  later  than  the  bargain  of 
Nicias.  The  lessee,  too,  was  under  the  additional 
risk  of  the  slaves  escaping  in  time  of  war,  when 
a hostile  army  might  make  a special  invasion  into 
the  mountain  district  for  the  purpose  of  inflicting 
a blow  on  this  important  part  of  Athenian  revenue. 
In  such  cases,  it  may  be  presumed  that  desperate 
attempts  were  made  by  the  slaves  to  escape,  for 
although  the  Athenian  slaves  generally  were  the 
best  treated  in  Greece,  and  had  many  holidays,  it 
was  very  different  with  the  gangs  employed  by  the 
Thracian  taskmaster.  We  are  told  that  they  had 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


179 


three  hundred  and  sixty  working  days  in  the  year. 
This,  together  with  the  poison  of  the  atmosphere, 
tells  its  tale  plainly  enough. 

And  yet  Nicias,  the  capitalist  who  worked  this 
hideous  trade,  was  the  most  pious  and  God-fearing 
man  at  Athens.  So  high  was  his  reputation  for 
integrity  and  religion,  that  the  people  insisted  on 
appointing  him  again  and  again  to  commands  for 
which  he  was  wholly  unfit  5 and  when  at  last  he 
ruined  the  great  Athenian  army  before  Syracuse, 
and  lost  his  own  life,  by  his  extreme  devoutness 
and  his  faith  in  the  threats  and  warnings  of  the 
gods — even  then  the  great  sceptical  historian,  who 
cared  for  none  of  these  things,  condones  all  his 
blunders  for  the  sake  of  his  piety  and  his  respect- 
ability. 

Of  course,  however,  an  excursion  to  Laurium, 
interesting  as  it  might  be,  were  absurd  without 
visiting  the  far  more  famous  Sunium, — the  promon- 
tory which  had  already  struck  us  so  much  on  our 
sea  voyage  round  the  point, — the  temple  which 
Byron  has  again  hallowed  with  his  immortal  verse, 
and  Turner  with  his  hardly  less  immortal  pencil. 
So  we  hired  horses  on  our  return  from  the  mines, 
and  set  out  on  a very  fine  afternoon  to  ride  down 
some  seven  or  eight  miles  from  Ergasteria  to  the 
famous  promontory.  Our  route  led  over  rolling 
hills,  covered  with  arbutus  and  stunted  firs  ; along 
valleys  choked  with  deep,  matted  grass  j by  the 


180 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


side  of  the  sea,  upon  the  narrow  ledge  of  broken 
rocks.  Nowhere  was  there  a road,  or  a vestige  of 
human  habitation,  save  where  the  telegraph  wire 
dipped  into  the  sea,  pointing  the  way  to  the  distant 
Syra.  It  was  late  in  the  day,  and  the  sun  was 
getting  low,  so  we  urged  our  horses  to  a canter 
wherever  the  ground  would  permit  it.  But  neither 
the  heat  nor  the  pace  could  conquer  the  indefatigable 
esquire  who  attended  us  on  foot  to  show  us  the  way, 
and  hold  the  horses  when  we  stopped.  His  speed 
and  endurance  made  me  think  of  Phidippides  and 
his  run  to  Sparta ; nor,  indeed,  do  any  of  the  feats 
recorded  of  the  old  Greeks,  either  in  swimming 
or  running,  appear  incredible  when  we  witness  the 
feats  that  are  being  performed  almost  every  day 
by  modern  muscle  and  endurance.  At  last,  after 
a delightful  two  hours’  roaming  through  the  homely 
solitude,  we  found  ourselves  at  the  foot  of  the  last 
hill,  and  over  us  the  shining  pillars  of  the  ruined 
temple  stood  out  against  the  sky. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  temple  of  Neptune 
on  Mount  Taenarum  must  have  been  quite  as  fine  as 
to  position,  but  the  earthquakes  of  Laconia  have 
made  havoc  of  its  treasures,  while  at  Sunium, 
though  some  of  the  drums  in  the  shafts  of  the 
pillars  have  been  actually  displaced  several  inches 
from  their  fellows  above  and  below,  so  that  the  per- 
fect fitting  of  the  old  Athenians  has  come  to  look 
like  the  tottering  work  of  a giant  child  with  marble 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


181 


bricks, — in  spite  of  this,  thirteen  pillars  remain,1 
a piece  of  architrave,  and  a huge  platform  of  solid 
blocks ; above  all,  a site  not  desecrated  by  modern 
habitations,  where  we  can  sit  and  think  of  the  great 
old  days,  and  of  the  men  who  set  up  this  noble 
monument  at  the  remotest  corner  of  their  land. 
The  Greeks  told  us  that  this  temple,  that  at  iEgina, 
and  the  Parthenon,  are  placed  exactly  at  the  angles 
of  a great  equilateral  triangle,  with  each  side  about 
twenty- five  or  thirty  miles  long.  Our  maps  do  not 
verify  this  belief.  The  distance  from  Athens  to 
Sunium  appears  much  longer  than  either  of  the 
other  lines,  nor  do  we  find  in  antiquity  any  hint 
that  such  a principle  was  attended  to,  or  that  any 
peculiar  virtue  was  attached  to  it. 

We  found  the  platform  nearly  complete,  built  with 
great  square  blocks  of  poros-stone,  and  in  some 
places  very  high,  though  in  others  scarcely  raised 
at  all,  according  to  the  requirements  of  the  ground. 
Over  it  the  temple  was  built,  not  with  the  huge 
blocks  which  we  see  at  Corinth  and  in  the  Parthenon, 
but  still  of  perfectly  white  marble,  and  with  that  beau- 
tifully close  fitting,  without  mortar,  rubble,  or  cement, 
which  characterizes  the  best  and  most  perfect  epoch 
of  Greek  architecture.2  The  stone,  too,  is  the  finest 

1 Byron,  who  loved  this  spot  above  all  others,  I think,  in 
Greece,  speaks  of  sixteen  as  still  standing  in  his  day. 

2 Dr.  Dorpfeld  has  since  shown  that  the  marble  temple  at 
Sunium  was  built  on  the  site  of  an  older  temple,  with  a very 


182 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


white  marble,  and,  being  exposed  to  no  dust  on  its 
lofty  site,  has  alone  of  all  temples  kept  its  original 
color — if,  indeed,  it  was  originally  white,  and  not 
enriched  with  divers  colors.  The  earthquake,  which 
has  displaced  the  stones  in  the  middle  of  the  pillars, 
has  tumbled  over  many  large  pieces,  which  can  be 
seen  from  above  scattered  all  down  the  slope  where 
they  have  rolled.  But  enough  still  remains  for  us 
to  see  the  plan,  and  imagine  the  effect  of  the  whole 
structure.  It  is  in  the  usual  simple,  grand,  Doric 
style,  but  lighter  in  proportions  than  the  older  Attic 
temples ; and,  being  meant  for  distant  effect,  was 
probably  not  much  decorated.  Its  very  site  gives 
it  all  the  ornament  any  building  could  possibly 
require. 

It  was  our  good  fortune  to  see  it  in  a splendid  sun- 
set, with  the  sea  a sheet  of  molten  gold,  and  all  the 
headlands  and  islands  colored  with  hazy  purple. 
The  mountains  of  Euboea,  with  their  promontory  of 
Gersestus,  closed  the  view  upon  the  north-east ; but 
far  down  into  the  iEgean  reached  island  after  island, 
as  it  were  striving  to  prolong  a highway  to  the  holy 
Delos.  The  ancient  Andros,  Tenos,  Myconos  were 
there,  but  the  eye  sought  in  vain  for  the  home  of 
Apollo’s  shrine — the  smallest  and  yet  the  greatest  of 
the  group.  The  parallel  chain,  reaching  down  from 
Sunium  itself,  was  confused  into  one  mass,  but  ex- 

slight  but  distinct  enlargement  of  the  plan.  The  older  temple 
was  of  the  ordinary  poros-stone  found  on  the  site. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


183 


posed  to  view  the  distant  Melos.  Then  came  a short 
space  of  open  sea,  due  south,  which  alone  prevented 
us  from  imagining  ourselves  on  some  fair  and  quiet 
inland  lake  ; and  beyond  to  the  south-west  we  saw 
the  point  of  Hydra,  the  only  spot  in  all  Hellas  whose 
recent  fame  exceeds  the  report  of  ancient  (Jays. 
The  mountains  of  Argolis  lay  behind  iEgina,  and 
formed  with  their  Arcadian  neighbors  a solid  back- 
ground, till  the  eye  wandered  round  to  the  Acropolis 
of  Corinth,  hardly  visible  in  the  burning  brightness 
of  the  sun’s  decline.  And  all  this  splendid  expanse 
of  sea  and  mountain,  and  bay  and  cliff,  seemed  as 
utterly  deserted  as  the  wildest  western  coast  of  Scot- 
land or  Ireland.  One  or  two  little  white  sails,  speed- 
ing in  his  boat  some  lonely  fisherman,  made  the 
solitude,  if  possible,  more  speaking  and  more  in- 
tense. There  are  finer  views,  more  extensive,  and 
perhaps  even  more  varied,  but  none  more  exquisitely 
interesting  and  more  melancholy  to  the  student  of 
Ancient  Greece. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA — PENTELICUS — MARATHON — 
DAPHNE — ELEUSIS. 

This  great  loneliness  is  a feature  that  strikes  the 
traveller  almost  everywhere  through  the  country. 
Many  centuries  of  insecurity,  and  indeed  of  violence, 
have  made  country  life  almost  impossible ; and  now 
that  better  times  have  come,  the  love  and  knowledge 
of  it  are  gone.  The  city  Athenian  no  longer 
grumbles,  as  he  did  in  Aristophanes’s  day,  that  an 
invasion  has  driven  him  in  from  the  rude  plenty  and 
simple  luxuries  of  his  farming  life,  where  with  his 
figs  and  his  olives,  his  raisins  and  his  heady  wine,  he 
made  holiday  before  his  gods,  and  roasted  his  thrush 
and  his  chestnuts  with  his  neighbor  over  the  fire. 
All  this  is  gone.  There  remains,  indeed,  the  old 
political  lounger,  the  loafer  of  the  market-place, 
ever  seeking  to  obtain  some  shabby  maintenance  by 
sycophancy  or  by  bullying.  This  type  is  not  hard 
to  find  in  modern  Athens,  but  the  old  sturdy  Achar- 
nian,  as  well  as  the  rich  horse-breeding  Alcmseonid, 
are  things  of  the  past.  Even  the  large  profits  to  be 
made  by  market-gardening  will  not  tempt  them  to 
adopt  this  industry,  and  the  great  city  of  Athens  is 
184 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


185 


one  of  the  worst  supplied  and  dearest  of  capitals, 
most  of  its  daily  requirements  in  vegetables,  fowls, 
eggs,  etc.,  coming  in  by  steamers  from  islands  on 
the  coast  of  Thessaly.  No  part  of  the  country  of 
Attica  can  be  considered  even  moderately  cultivated, 
except  the  Thriasian  plain,  and  the  valley  of  Kephis- 
sus,  reaching  from  near  Dekelea  to  the  sea.  This 
latter  plain,  with  its  fine  olive-woods  reaching  down 
across  Academus  to  the  region  of  the  old  long 
walls,  is  fairly  covered  with  corn  and  grazing  cattle, 
with  plane  trees  and  poplars.  But  even  here  many 
of  the  homesteads  are  deserted ; and  the  country 
seats  of  the  Athenians  were  often  left  empty  for 
years,  whenever  a band  of  brigands  appeared  in  the 
neighboring  mountains,  and  threatened  the  outlying 
houses  with  blackmail,  if  not  with  bloodier  violence. 
Of  late  there  is  a steady  improvement. 

Nothing  can  be  truer  than  the  admirable  descrip- 
tion of  Northern  Attica  given  in  M.  Perrot’s  book  on 
the  Attic  orators.  He  is  describing  Rhamnus,  the 
home  of  Antiphon,  but  his  picture  is  of  broader 
application.1 

1 “ Aujourd’hui  tout  ce  district  est  presque  desert ; seuls,  quel- 
ques  archeologues  et  quelques  artistes  affrontent  ces  gorges  pier- 
reuses  et  ces  scabreux  sentiers  ; on  prend  alors  ce  chemin  pour 
aller  de  Marathon  & Chalcis  et  revenir  a Athenes  par  Dec£lie,  entre 
le  Pentelique  et  Parnes.  Ces  monuments  de  Rhamnunte  ofFrent 
des  traits  curieux  qui  les  rendent  interessants  pour  le  voyageur 
erudit ; mais  de  plus  les  ruines  rnemes  et  le  site  ont  assez  de  beaute 
pour  dedommager  de  leur  peine  ceux  qui  recherchent  surtout  le 


186 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


All  these  remarks  are  even  more  strongly  exem- 
plified by  the  beautiful  country  which  lies  between 

pittoresque.  Je  n’oublierai  jamais  les  quelques  heures  que  j’ai 
passees  la,  il  y a deja  longtemps,  par  une  radieuse  matinee  d’avril. 
Pendant  que  nous  examinions  ce  qui  restait  des  anciens  sanctuaires 
et  de  leurs  defenses,  notre  guide  songeait  au  dejeuner ; il  avait 
acliete  un  agneau  a l’un  de  ces  patres  appeles  Vlaques  qui,  avec  leurs 
brebis  et  leurs  chevres  eparses  dans  les  buissons  de  myrtes  et  de 
lentisques,  sont  a peu  pres  les  seuls  habitants  de  ce  canton.  Quand 
nous  revinmes,  1’  agneau,  soutenu  sur  deux  fourches  fichees  en  terre 
par  un  jeune  pin  sylvestre  qui  servait  de  broche,  cuisait  tout  entier 
devant  un  feu  clair,  et  la  graisse  coulait  a grosses  gouttes  sur  les 
charbons  ardents.  Devant  notre  tapis  etendu  a 1’  ombre  avait  ete 
preparee  une  jonchee  de  verts  branchages  sur  lesquels  le  succulent 
roti,  rapidement  decoupe  par  le  coutelas  d’un  berger,  laissa  bientot 
tomber  cotelettes  et  gigots. 

“ Ce  qui  nous  fit  prolonger  la  notre  lialte  apres  que  notre  appe- 
tit  fut  satisfait,  ce  fut  la  vue  magnifique  dont  on  jouissait  de  la 
plate-forme  ou  nous  etions  etablis,  dans  un  coin  de  1’  acropole.  A 
nos  pieds,  c’etait  la  mer,  veloutee  de  chatoyante  reflets  par  lesoleil, 
par  la  brise,  par  les  nuages  qui  passaient  au  ciel.  En  face  de  nous 
se  dressaient  les  hautes  et  severes  cotes  de  l’Eubee,  domines  par  la 
pyramide  du  Dirphys.  Ce  fier  sommet  etait  encore  tout  blanc  des 
neiges  de  1’  hiver ; au  contraire,  si  nous  nous  retournons  vers  les 
gorges  qui  se  creusaient  autour  de  nous  dans  la  montagne,  entre 
des  parois  de  marbre  rougies  et  comme  halees  par  le  soleil,  c’etait 
le  printemps  de  la  Grece  dans  tout  son  epanouissement  et  son  eclat. 
Dans  le  fond  des  ravins,  la  ou  un  peu  d’  eau  filtrait  sous  les  cail- 
loux,  arbres  deJudee  et  cytises  melaient  leurs  brillantes  couleurs 
au  tendre  feuillage  des  platanes,  et  sur  les  pentes  les  plus  apres  des 
milliers  de  genets  en  fleur  etincelaient  parmi  la  verdure  des  gen- 
^vriers,  des  chines  et  des  oliviers  francs. 

“Dans  l’antiquite,  toute  cette  portion  du  territoire  atbenien, 
qui  faisait  partie  de  ce  que  l’on  appelait  la  Diakria  ou  le  ‘ liaut 
pays/  sans  avoir  de  gros  villages  ni  une  population  aussi  dense 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


187 


Pentelicus  and  Hymettus,  and  wliich  is  now  covered 
with  forest  and  brushwood.  We  passed  through  this 

que  celle  des  plaines  d’ Atlienes  on  d’  Eleusis,  devait  pourtant  pres- 
enter un  aspect  assez  diff  erent  de  celui  qu’elle  off're  aujourd’hui; 
je  me  la  represente  assez  semblable  a ce  que  sont  maintenant  cer- 
tains districts  montueux  de  la  Grece  moderne  ou  le  desir  d’eviter 
le  contact  des  Turcs  avait  rejete  et  cantonne  les  Hellenes : il  en 
etait  ainsi  du  Magne,  de  la  Tzaconie,  des  environs  de  Karytena  en 
Arcadie.  Partout  la,  une  industrieuse  perseverance  a mis  a profit 
tout  ce  que  pouvaient  offrir  de  ressources  le  sol  et  le  climat.  Sur 
des  pentes  abruptes  et  presque  verticales,  de  petits  murs  en  pierres 
seches  s’efforcent  de  retenir  une  mince  couche  de  terre  vegetale  ; 
malgre  ces  precautions,  les  grandes  pluies  de  1’  hiver  et  les  vents  de 
l’ete  en  emportent  une  partie  jusqu’au  fond  de  la  vallee,  sans 
jamais  se  lasser,  horames,  femmes,  enfants,  travaillent  sans  relache 
a Sparer  ces  degats.  Que  de  fois,  admirant  la  patience  de  ces 
sobres  et  tenaces  montagnards,  je  les  ai  suivis  des  yeux  pendant 
qu’ils  allaient  ainsi  lentement,  le  dos  courbe  sous  leurs  hottes 
pleines,  gravissant  des  senders  sablonneux  ou  d’etroits  escaliers 
tailles  a meme  la  roche  qui  leur  renvoyait  touts  les  ardeurs  du 
soleil  ! Au  bout  de  quelques  annees,  il  n’est  pas  peut-etre  une 
parcelle  du  terrain  dans  chacun  de  ces  petits  champs  qui  n’ait  fait 
plusieurs  fois  le  voyage,  qui  n’ait  glisse  jusqu’au  bord  du  torrent 
pour  etre  ensuite  ramenee  pelletee  par  pelletee,  sur  une  des  ter- 
rasses  superieures.  Ces  sacrifices  sont  recompenses.  Le  long  du 
ruisseau,  la  ou  les  cotes  s’ecartent  et  laissent  entre  elles  un  peu 
d’espace,  l’eau,  soigneusement  menagee,  mesuree  par  heures  et 
par  minutes  a chaque  proprietaire,  court  bruyante  et  claire  dans 
les  rigoles ; elle  arrose  des  vergers  ou  croissent,  suivant  les  lieux, 
soit  l’oranger,  le  citronnier  et  le  grenadier,  soit  les  arbres  de  nos 
climats  temperes,  le  peclier,  le  pommier  et  le  poirier  ; a leur  ombre 
grossissent  la  feve  et  l’enorme  courge.  Plus  haut,  sur  les  versants 
les  moins  roides  et  les  moins  pierreux,  la  ou  la  legere  charrue  in- 
ventee  par  Triptoleme  a trouve  assez  de  place  pour  tracer  le  sillon, 
Forge  et  le  seigle  verdissent  au  printemps,  et,  dans  les  bonnes 


188 


KAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


vale  one  sunny  morning  on  our  way  to  visit  Mara- 
thon. There  is,  indeed,  a road  for  some  miles — the 
road  to  the  quarries  of  Pentelieus — but  a very  dif- 
ferent one  from  what  the  Athenians  must  have  had. 
It  is  now  a mere  broad  track,  cut  by  wheels  and 

annees,  profitent  pour  murir  des  tardifs  soleils  d’automne.  Ce  qui 
d’ailleurs  reussit  le  mieux  dans  ces  montagnes,  ce  qui  paye 
vraiment  les  habitants  de  leurs  peines,  e’est  1’ olivier,  dont  les  puis- 
santes  racines  etreignent  le  roc  et  semblent  faire  corps  avec  lui  ; 
e’est  la  vigne,  qui,  d’etage  en  etage,  grimpe  presque  jusqu’ aux  som- 
mets.  A bun  et  a 1’ autre,  pour  donner  line  huile  et  un  yin  qui 
seraient  les  plus  savoureux  du  monde,  s’ils  etaient  mieux  prepares, 
il  suffit  de  beaucoup  de  soleil,  d’un  peu  de  terre  et  de  quelques 
coups  de  lioyau  qui  viennent  a propos  ameublir  le  sol  et  le  degager 
des  plantes  parasites. 

“C’est  ainsi  que  dans  l’Attique,  au  temps  de  sa  prosperity, 
meme  les  cantons  aujourd’hui  les  plus  deserts  et  les  plus  steriles 
devaient  etre  habites  et  cultives.  Sur  beaucoup  de  ces  croupes  ou 
le  roc  alHeure  presque  partout,  ou  verdit  a peine,  aux  premiers 
jours  du  printemps,  une  herbe  courte,  diapree  d’anemones  et  de 
cistes,  qui  jaunira  des  le  mois  de  mai,  il  y avait  jadis  une  couclie 
plus  epaisse  de  terre  vegetale.  Dans  les  ravins,  la  ou  j’  ai  perdu 
plus  d’une  fois  mon  chemin  en  poursuivant  la  perdrix  rouge  ou  la 
becasse  a travel's  des  maquis  touffus,  on  a,  pendant  bien  des  siecles, 
fait  lavendangeet  la  cueillette  des  olives;  e’est  ce  dont  temoignent, 
sur  les  pentes  les  mieux  exposees  aux  rayons  du  midi  oil  du 
couchant.  des  restes  de  murs  et  de  terrassements  que  l’on  distingue 
encore  dans  l’epaisseur  du  fourre.  Dans  les  endroits  ou  la  culture 
etait  a peu  pres  impossible,  des  bois  de  pins,  aujhourd’hui  presque 
entierement  dGruits,  empecliaient  la  montagne  de  se  denuder ; 
dans  les  clairieres  et  entre  les  rocs  memes  poussaient  la  sauge,  la 
campanule  et  le  thvm,  toutes  ces  plantes  aromatiques,  tous  ces 
vigoureux  arbustes  que  se  plait  a tondre  la  dent  des  moutons  et  des 
chevres.” 


• •;  * 


Mount  Lycabettus,  Athens 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


189 


hoofs  in  the  sward  j and  wherever  the  ruts  become 
too  deep  the  driver  turns  aside,  and  makes  a 
parallel  track  for  his  own  convenience.  In  summer 
days,  the  dust  produced  by  this  sort  of  road  is  some- 
thing beyond  description ; and  the  soil  being  very 
red  earth,  we  have  an  atmosphere  which  accounts 
to  some  extent  for  the  remarkable  color  of  the  old 
buildings  of  Athens.  The  way,  after  turning  round 
the  steep  Lycabettus,  which,  like  Arthur’s  Seat  at 
Edinburgh,  commands  the  town  close  by,  passes  up 
the  right  side  of  the  undulating  plain  of  Attica,  with 
the  stony  but  variegated  slopes  of  Hymettus  upon 
the  right,  and  Pentelicus  almost  straight  ahead.  As 
soon  as  the  suburbs  are  passed  we  meet  but  one  or 
two  country  seats,  surrounded  with  dark  cypress 
and  pepper  trees  ; but  outside  the  sombre  green  is 
a tall,  dazzling,  white  wall,  which  gives  a peculiarly 
Oriental  character  to  the  landscape.  There  is  culti- 
vation visible  when  you  look  to  the  westward,  where 
the  village  of  Kephissia  lies,  among  the  groves  which 
accompany  the  Kephissus  on  its  course ; but  up 
toward  Pentelicus,  along  the  track  which  must  once 
have  been  crowded  with  carts,  and  heavy  teams,  and 
shouting  drivers,  when  all  the  blocks  of  the  Par- 
thenon were  being  hurried  from  their  quarry  to 
adorn  the  Acropolis — along  this  famous  track  there 
is  hardly  a sign  of  culture.  Occasionally,  a rough 
stubble  field  showed  that  a little  corn  had  been  cut 
— an  occasional  station,  with  a couple  of  soldiers, 


190 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


shows  why  more  had  not  been  sown.  The  fear  of 
brigands  had  paralyzed  industry,  and  even  driven 
out  the  scanty  rural  population. 

It  strikes  me,  when  speaking  of  this  road,  that  the 
Greek  roads  cannot  have  been  at  all  so  well  con- 
structed as  the  Roman,  many  of  which  are  still  to 
be  seen  in  England.  Though  I went  upon  the  track 
of  many  of  them,  I but  once  noticed  the  vestige  of 
an  old  Greek  road.  There  are  here  and  there 
wretched  remains  of  Turkish  roads — rough  angular 
stones  laid  down  across  the  hills,  in  a close  irregular 
pavement ; but  of  the  great  builders  of  the  Parthe- 
non and  of  Phyle,  of  Eleutherse  and  of  Eleusis, 
hardly  a patch  of  road-work  has,  so  far  as  I know, 
remained. 

There  is,  indeed,  one  exception  in  this  very  neigh- 
borhood, to  which  we  may  now  naturally  turn.  The 
traveller  who  has  wondered  at  the  huge  blocks  of 
the  Propylsea  and  the  Parthenon,  and  who  has 
noticed  the  exquisite  quality  of  the  stone,  and  the 
perfect  smoothness  which  it  has  preserved  to  the 
present  day,  will  naturally  desire  to  visit  the  quarry 
on  Pentelicus  from  which  it  was  brought.  The 
marble  of  Paros  is  probably  the  only  stone  found 
superior  to  it  for  the  purposes  of  sculpture.  It  is, 
however,  harder  and  of  larger  grain,  so  that  it  must 
have  been  more  difficult  to  work.  Experts  can  tell 
the  difference  between  the  two  marbles,  but  I con- 
fess that,  though  M.  Rousopoulos  endeavored  to  teach 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


191 


it  to  me  from  specimens  in  the  Acropolis  Museum,  I 
was  unable  to  attain  a clear  knowledge  of  the  dis- 
tinction. The  large  blocks  of  Pentelican  marble, 
however  beautiful  and  fine  in  grain,  seem  not  unfre- 
quently  to  have  contained  flaws,  and  possibly  the 
ascertaining  of  this  defect  may  of  old  have  been  one 
of  the  most  difficult  duties  of  the  architect.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  been  done  by  sounding  the  block 
with  a hammer,  a process  which  the  Greeks  would 
call  xcod(ovi£sw.  There  are  at  present,  close  to  the 
east  front  of  the  Parthenon,  several  of  these  rejected 
blocks,  and  the  lapse  of  ages  has  brought  out  the 
flaw  visibly,  because  damp  has  had  time  to  penetrate 
the  stone,  and  stain  its  pure  whiteness  with  a dark 
seam.  But  when  it  came  fresh  from  its  native  bed, 
and  was  all  pure  white,  I presume  the  difficulty  must 
have  been  considerable.  Possibly  these  blocks  on 
the  Parthenon  were  injured  in  their  transit,  and  left 
the  quarries  in  sound  condition.  For  in  going  up 
the  steep  road  to  these  quarries,  in  more  than  one 
place  a similar  great  block  will  be  found  tumbled 
aside,  and  left  lying  at  the  very  spot  where  we  may 
suppose  some  accident  to  have  happened  to  crack  it. 
This  road,  which  in  its  highest  parts  has  never  been 
altered,  is  a steep  descent,  rudely  paved  with  trans- 
verse courses  of  stone,  like  steps  in  pattern,  and  may 
have  had  wooden  slides  laid  over  it,  to  bring  down 
the  product  of  the  quarries  to  the  valley.  It  is  well 
worth  while  going  up  for  a night  to  the  fine  monas- 


192 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


tery  not  far  off,  where  there  is  ample  shade  of  wav- 
ing trees  and  plenty  of  falling  water,  in  the  midst  of 
steep  slopes  wooded  with  the  fir — a cool  and  quiet 
retreat  in  the  fierce  heat  of  summer.1  From  this 
place  to  the  quarries  is  less  than  an  hour’s  walk. 
The  moderns  still  draw  stone  from  them,  but  far 
below  the  spots  chosen  by  the  ancients ; and,  of 
course,  the  remains  of  the  old  industry  are  on  an 
infinitely  grander  scale. 

It  is  a laborious  climb,  up  a road  covered  with 
small  fragments  of  stone.  But  at  last,  beneath  a 
great  face  of  marble  all  chipped  with  the  work  of 
ancient  hands,  there  is  a large  cool  cavern,  with 
water  dripping  from  the  roof  into  ice-cold  pools 
below,  and  besides  it  a quaint  grotto  chapel,  with 
its  light  still  burning,  and  stone  seats  around,  where 
the  traveller  may  rest.  This  place  seems  to  have 
been  the  main  source  of  the  old  Athenian  buildings. 
The  high  face  of  the  rock  above  it  is  chipped,  as  I 
have  said,  with  small  and  delicate  cutting,  and  hangs 
over,  as  if  they  had  removed  it  beneath,  in  order 
to  bring  down  the  higher  pieces  more  easily.  Of 
course,  they  could  not,  and  probably  if  they  could, 
would  not,  have  blasted  the  stone  ; and,  so  far  as  I 
know,  we  are  not  informed  by  what  process  they 


1 TcoXt.al  (V  aplv  vnepde  Kara  xparoQ  doveovro 
alyetpoL  ttteMcu  te  * tu  (V  eyyvdsv  lepbv  vfiup 
Nv(u^(iv  avrpoio  mTEtfiu/iEvov  KE?idpv^e 

— Theocr.  vii.  135. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


193 


managed  to  loosen  and  bring  down  the  great  blocks 
from  their  sites.  The  surface  of  the  rock  testifies 
to  the  use  of  some  small  and  delicate  chisel.  But 
whatever  the  process,  they  must  have  had  machinery 
of  which  we  have  lost  all  record,  for  no  amount  of 
manual  work  could  possibly  have  accomplished  what 
they  did  in  a few  years,  and  accomplished  it  with 
a delicacy  which  shows  complete  control  of  their 
materials.  The  beautifully  fitted  walls  of  the 
chamber  inside  the  left  wing  of  the  Propylaea  pre- 
serve an  interesting  piece  of  detail  on  the  face  of 
each  square  block,  which  is  perfectly  fitted  to  its 
fellows ; there  still  remains  a rough  knob  jutting 
out  from  the  centre,  evidently  the  handle  used  for 
lifting  the  stone,  and  usually  removed  when  all  the 
building  was  completely  finished.  The  expenses 
of  war  and  the  dolors  of  a long  siege  caused  the 
Propylsea  to  remain  unfinished,  and  so  this  piece  of 
construction  has  survived. 

The  view  from  the  top  of  Pentelicus  is,  of  course, 
very  striking,  and  those  who  have  no  time  or  inclina- 
tion to  spend  a day  at  Marathon  itself  are  usually 
content  with  a very  fine  view  of  the  bay  and  the 
opposite  mountains  of  Euboea,  which  can  thence  be 
had.  But  it  is  indeed  a pity,  now  that  the  country 
is  generally  quite  safe,  that  after  so  long  a journey 
as  that  from  England  to  Athens,  people  should  turn 
back  without  completing  the  additional  fifteen  miles 


13 


194 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


which  brings  them  to  the  site  of  the  great  battle 
itself. 

As  we  le&ve  the  track  which  leads  up  to  the 
monastery  above  mentioned,  the  country  becomes 
gradually  covered  with  shrubs,  and  then  with 
stunted  trees — generally  old  fir-trees,  all  hacked 
and  carved  and  wounded  for  the  sake  of  their  resin, 
which  is  so  painfully  obtrusive  in  Greek  wine.  But 
in  one  place  there  is,  by  way  of  change,  a picturesque 
bridge  over  a rapid  rocky-bedded  river,  which  is 
completely  hidden  with  rich  flowering  oleanders,  and 
in  which  we  found  sundry  Attic  women,  of  the 
poorer  class,  washing  their  clothes.  The  woods  in 
this  place  were  wonderfully  rich  and  scented,  and 
the  sound  of  the  turtle  doves  was  heard  in  the  land. 
Presently  we  came  upon  the  thickly  wooded  corner, 
which  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  the  spot  where  our 
unfortunate  countrymen  were  captured  in  1870,  and 
carried  up  the  slopes  of  Pentelicus,  to  be  sacrificed 
to  the  blundering  of  the  English  Minister  or  the 
Greek  Ministry, — I could  not  decide  which, — and 
more  certainly  to  their  own  chivalry ; for  while  all 
the  captured  Greeks  escaped  during  the  pursuit,  our 
English  gentlemen  would  not  break  their  parole. 
These  men  are  now  held  by  the  better  Greeks  to 
be  martyrs  for  the  good  of  Greece ; for  this  outrage 
first  forced  the  Government  to  take  really  vigorous 
measures  for  the  safety  of  the  country.  The  whole 
band  were  gradually  captured  and  executed,  till  at 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


195 


last  Takos,  their  chief,  was  caught  in  Peloponnesus, 
three  or  four  years  ago,  and  hanged  at  Athens.  So 
it  came  that  I found  the  country  (on  all  my  visits, 
’75,  ’77,  ’84,  ’89)  apparently  as  safe  as  Ireland  is 
to  a traveller,  and  we  required  neither  escort,  nor 
arms,  nor  any  precautions  whatever. 

We  had,  indeed,  a missive  from  the  Greek  Prime 
Minister,  which  we  presented  to  the  Chief  Police 
Officer  of  each  town — a gentleman  in  the  usual 
scarlet  cap  and  white  petticoats,  but  carrying  a great 
dog-whip  as  the  sign  of  his  office.  This  custom, 
strange  to  say,  dates  from  the  days  of  Aristophanes. 
But  the  Prime  Minister  warned  us  that,  though  things 
were  now  safe,  there  was  no  permanent  security. 
Any  revolution  in  the  neighborhood  (such,  for  exam- 
ple, as  that  in  Herzegovina,  which  at  that  time  had 
not  yet  broken  out)  might,  he  said,  send  over  the  Turk- 
ish frontier  a number  of  outlaws  or  other  fugitives, 
who  would  support  themselves  by  levying  blackmail 
on  the  peasantry,  and  then  on  travellers.  We  were 
assured  that  the  Morea,  which  does  not  afford  an 
easy  escape  into  Turkey,  has  been  for  years  per- 
fectly secure,  and  I found  it  so  in  several  subsequent 
journeys.  So,  then,  any  traveller  desirous  of  see- 
ing the  Peloponnesus — Sparta,  Olympia,  Mantinea, 
Argos,  or  even  Central  Greece — may  count  on  doing 
so  with  safety.  Not  so  the  visitor  to  Tempe  and 
Mount  Pindus.1  The  Professors  of  the  University 

1 Since  M.  Trikoupi’s  long  and  effective  administration,  brig 


196 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


with  whom  I talked  were,  indeed,  of  a more  sanguine 
opinion.  They  did  not  anticipate  any  recurrence 
of  the  danger : they  considered  Greece  one  of  the 
safest  and  quietest  of  countries.  Moreover,  in  one 
point  they  all  seemed  agreed.  It  was  perfectly  cer- 
tain that  the  presence  of  bandits  would  be  at  once 
known  at  Athens.  Why  this  was  so,  I was  not 
informed,  nor  whether  travellers  would  be  at  once 
informed  also.  In  any  case,  either  M.  Trikoupi  or 
the  British  Minister  can  be  perfectly  relied  upon  for 
advice  in  this  matter. 

So  much  for  the  safety  of  travelling  in  Greece, 
which  is  suggested  by  the  melancholy  fate  of  Mr. 
Vyner  and  his  friends,  though  that  event  is  now  so 
long  past.  But  one  point  more.  It  is  both  idle  and 
foolish  to  imagine  that  revolvers  and  daggers  are  the 
best  protection  against  Greek  bandits,  should  they 
reappear.  They  never  attack  where  they  are  visible. 
The  first  notice  given  to  the  traveller  is  the  sight  of 
twenty  or  thirty  muzzles  pointed  at  him  from  the 
covert,  with  a summons  to  surrender.  Except,  there- 
fore, the  party  be  too  numerous  to  be  so  surrounded 
and  vise , so  that  some  could  fight,  even  were  others 
shot — except  in  such  a case,  arms  are  only  an  addi- 

andage  was  so  effectually  put  down  that,  although  there  were 
plenty  of  brigands  in  Mount  Olympus  close  to  the  frontier,  it 
was.perfectly  safe  to  wander  about  in  Northern  Greece  up  to  the 
vale  of  Tempe.  Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  1889.  Whether 
his  recent  successor  will  keep  as  good  order  remains  to  be  seen. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


197 


tional  prize,  and  a tempting  one,  for  the  clephts.  It 
is,  indeed,  very  seldom  that  the  carrying  of  arms  is 
to  be  recommended  to  any  traveller  in  any  land. 

As  we  ascended  the  long  saddle  of  country  which 
lies  between  Pentelicus  and  Hymettus,  we  came 
upon  a fine  olive-wood,  with  the  same  enormous 
stems  which  had  already  excited  our  wonder  in  the 
groves  of  Academe.  Indeed,  some  of  the  stems  in 
this  wood  were  the  largest  we  had  seen,  and  made 
us  think  that  they  may  have  been  there  since  the 
days  when  the  olive  oil  of  Attica  was  one  of  its  most 
famous  products,  and  its  export  was  even  forbidden. 
Even  then  there  were  ancient  stumps — /xof)cae,  as 
they  were  called — which  were  sacred,  and  which  no 
man  who  rented  or  bought  the  land  might  remove ; 
a restriction  which  seems  hard  to  us,  but  was  not  so 
in  Greece,  where  corn  grows  freely  in  the  shade  of 
trees,  and  is  even  habitually  planted  in  orchards. 
But  at  all  events,  these  old,  gnarled,  hollowed 
stumps,  with  their  tufts  of  branches  starting  from 
the  pollared  trunk,  are  a really  classical  feature  in 
the  country,  and  deserve,  therefore,  a passing  notice. 

When  we  had  got  well  between  the  mountains  a 
new  scene  unfolded  itself.  We  began  to  see  the 
famous  old  Euripus,  with  the  mountains  of  Euboea 
over  against  us ; and  down  to  the  south,  behind 
Hymettus,  till  we  reach  the  extremity  of  Sunium, 
stretched  a long  tract  of  mountainous  and  barren 
country  which  never  played  a prominent  part  in 


198 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


history,  but  where  a conical  hill  was  pointed  out  to 
us  as  the  site  of  the  old  deme  Brauron.  It  is, 
indeed,  surprising  how  little  of  Attica  was  ever 
celebrated.  Close  by  the  most  famous  city  of  the 
world  are  reaches  of  country  which  are  as  obscure 
to  us  as  the  wilds  of  Arcadia  j and  we  may  suspect 
that  the  shepherds  who  inhabited  the  (pMeay  or 
rocky  pastures  in  the  Attic  hills,  were  not  much 
superior  to  those  whom  we  now  meet  herding  their 
goats  in  the  same  region. 

The  plain  of  Marathon,  as  everybody  knows,  is  a 
long  crescent-shaped  strip  of  land  by  the  shore,  sur- 
rounded by  an  amphitheatre  of  hills,  which  may  be 
crossed  conveniently  in  three  places,  but  most  easily, 
toward  the  south-west,  along  the  road  which  we 
travelled,  and  which  leads  directly  to  Athens. 
When  the  Athenians  marched  through  this  broad 
and  easy  passage  they  found  that  the  Persians  had 
landed  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the  plain — I sup- 
pose, because  the  water  was  there  sufficiently  deep 
to  let  them  land  conveniently.  Most  of  the  shore, 
as  you  proceed  southward,  is  lined  on  the  seaboard 
by  swamps.  The  Greek  army  must  have  marched 
northward  along  the  spurs  of  Pentelicus,  and  taken 
up  their  position  near  the  north  of  the  plain.  There 
was  evidently  much  danger  that  the  Persians  would 
force  a passage  through  the  village  of  Marathon, 
farther  toward  the  north-west.  Had  they  done  this, 
they  might  have  rounded  Pentelicus,  and  descended 


Looking  Toward  the  Sea  from  the  Soros,  Marathon 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


199 


the  main  plain  of  Attica,  from  the  valley  below 
Dekelea.  Perhaps,  however,  this  pass  was  then 
guarded  by  an  outlying  fort,  or  by  some  defences 
at  Marathon  itself.  The  site  of  the  battle  is  abso- 
lutely fixed  by  the  great  mound,  upon  which  was 
placed  a lion,  which  has  been  carried  off,  no  one 
knows  when  or  whither.  The  mound  is  exactly  an 
English  mile  from  the  steep  slope  of  one  of  the  hills, 
and  about  half  a mile  from  the  sea  at  present ; nor 
was  there,  when  I saw  it,  any  difficulty  in  walking 
right  to  the  shore,  though  a river  flows  out  there, 
which  shows,  by  its  sedgy  banks  and  lofty  reeds,  a 
tendency  to  create  a marshy  tract  in  rainy  weather. 
But  the  mound  is  so  placed  that,  if  it  marks  the 
centre  of  the  battle,  the  Athenians  must  have  faced 
nearly  north ; and  if  they  faced  the  sea  eastward, 
as  is  commonly  stated,  this  mound  must  mark  the 
scene  of  the  conflict  on  their  left  wing.  The  mound 
is  very  large — I suppose  thirty  feet  high — altogether 
of  earth,  so  far  as  we  could  see,  and  bears  traces  of 
having  been  frequently  ransacked  in  search  of 
antiquities.  Dr.  Schliemann,  its  latest  inyestigator, 
could  find  nothing  there  but  prehistoric  flint  weapons. 

Like  almost  every  view  in  Greece,  the  prospect 
from  this  mound  is  full  of  beauty  and  variety — 
everywhere  broken  outlines,  everywhere  patches  of 
blue  sea,  everywhere  silence  and  solitude.  Byron 
is  so  much  out  of  fashion  now,  and  so  much  more 
talked  about  than  read — though  even  that  notice  of 


200 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


him  is  fast  disappearing — that  I will  venture  to 
remind  the  reader  of  the  splendid  things  he  has  said 
of  Greece,  and  especially  of  this  very  plain  of 
Marathon.  He  was  carried  away  by  his  enthusiasm 
to  fancy  a great  future  possible  for  the  country,  and 
to  believe  that  its  desolation  and  the  low  condition 
of  the  inhabitants  were  simply  the  result  of  Turkish 
tyranny,  and  not  of  many  natural  causes  conspiring 
for  twenty  centuries.  He  paints  the  Greek  brigand 
or  pirate  as  many  others  have  painted  the  u noble 
savage,”  with  the  omission  of  all  his  meaner  vices. 
But  in  spite  of  all  these  faults,  who  is  there  who 
has  felt  as  he  the  affecting  aspects  of  this  beautiful 
land — the  tomb  of  ancient  glory — the  home  of  an- 
cient wisdom — the  mother  of  science,  of  art,  of 
philosophy,  of  politics — the  champion  of  liberty — 
the  envy  of  the  Persian  and  the  Roman — the 
teacher,  even  still,  of  modern  Europe  ? It  is  surely 
a great  loss  to  our  generation,  and  a bad  sign  of  its 
culture,  that  the  love  of  more  modern  poets  has 
weaned  them  from  the  study  of  one  not  less  great  in 
most  respects,  but  far  greater  in  one  at  least — in  that 
burning  enthusiasm  for  a national  cause,  in  that  red- 
hot  passion  for  liberty  which,  even  when  misapplied, 
or  wasted  upon  unworthy  objects,  is  ever  one  of  the 
noblest  and  most  stirring  instincts  of  higher  man. 

But  Byron  may  well  be  excused  his  raving  about 
the  liberty  of  the  Greeks,  for  truly  their  old  conflict 
at  Marathon,  where  a few  thousand  ill-disciplined  men 


EXCUKSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


201 


repulsed  a larger  number  of  still  worse  disciplined 
Orientals,  without  any  recondite  tactics — perhaps 
even  without  any  very  extraordinary  heroism — how 
is  it  that  this  conflict  has  maintained  a celebrity 
which  has  not  been  equalled  by  any  of  the  great 
battles  of  the  world  from  that  day  down  to  our  own  ? 
The  courage  of  the  Greeks,  as  I have  elsewhere 
shown,1  was  not  of  the  first  order.  Herodotus 
praises  the  Athenians  in  this  very  battle  for  being 
the  first  Greeks  that  dared  to  look  the  Persians  in 
the  face.  Their  generals  all  through  history  seem 
never  to  feel  sure  of  victory,  and  always  endeavor  to 
harangue  their  soldiers  into  a fury.  Instead  of  ad- 
vising coolness,  they  especially  incite  to  rage — opyy 
Tipoopt^wpev , says  one  of  them  in  Thucydides — as 
if  any  man  not  in  this  state  would  be  sure  to  estimate 
the  danger  fully,  and  run  away.  It  is,  indeed,  true 
that  the  ancient  battles  were  hand  to  hand,  and 
therefore  parallel  to  our  charges  of  bayonets,  which 
are  said  to  be  very  seldom  carried  out  by  two  oppos- 
ing lines,  as  one  of  them  almost  always  gives  way 
before  the  actual  collision  takes  place.  This  must 
often  have  occurred  in  Greek  battles,  for  in  one 
fought  at  Amphipolis  Brasidas  lost  seven  men ; at  a 
battle  at  Corinth,  mentioned  by  Xenophen — an  im- 
portant battle,  too — the  slain  amounted  to  eight  f 

1 Social  Life  in  Greece,  p.  23 

2 Xen.  Hell.,  iv.,  3,  \ 1.  To  cite  a parallel  in  modern  history: 
a writer  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  (July  12,  1876)  says : 1 1 witnessed 


202 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


and  these  battles  were  fought  before  the  days  when 
whole  armies  were  composed  of  mercenaries,  who 
spared  one  another,  as  Ordericus  Vitalis  says,  u for 
the  love  of  God,  and  out  of  good  feeling  for  the 
fraternity  of  arms.”  So,  then,  the  loss  of  192 
Athenians,  including  some  distinguished  men,  was 
rather  a severe  one.  As  to  the  loss  of  the  Persians, 
I so  totally  disbelieve  the  Greek  accounts  of  such 
things  that  it  is  better  to  pass  it  by  in  silence. 

Perhaps  most  readers  will  be  astonished  to  hear 
of  the  Athenian  army  as  undisciplined,  and  of  the 
science  of  war  as  undeveloped,  in  those  times.  Yet 
I firmly  believe  this  was  so.  The  accounts  of  battles 
by  almost  all  the  historians  are  so  utterly  vague,  and 
so  childishly  conventional,  that  it  is  evident  that 
these  gentlemen  were  not  only  quite  ignorant  of  the 
science  of  war,  but  could  not  easily  find  any  one  to 
explain  it  to  them.  We  know  that  the  Spartans — 
the  most  admired  of  all  Greek  warriors — were  chiefly 
so  admired  because  they  devised  the  system  of  sub- 
ordinating officers  to  one  another  within  the  same 
detachment,  like  our  gradation  from  colonel  to  cor- 
poral. Orders  were  passed  down  from  officer  to 
officer,  instead  of  being  bawled  out  by  a herald  to  a 
whole  army.  But  this  superiority  of  the  Spartans, 
who  were  really  disciplined,  and  went  into  battle 

a battle  during  the  War  of  Greek  Independence.  It  lasted  three 
days  ; the  quantity  of  ammunition  expended  was  enormous,  and 
the  result  was  one  man  wounded  1” 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


203 


coolly,  like  brave  men,  certainly  did  not  extend  to 
strategy,  but  was  merely  a question  of  better  drill. 
As  soon  as  any  real  strategist  met  them  they  were 
helpless.  Thus  Iphicrates,  when  he  devised  Well- 
ington’s plan  of  meeting  their  attacking  column  in 
line,  and  using  missiles,  succeeded  against  them, 
even  without  firearms : thus  Epaminondas,  when  he 
devised  Napoleon’s  plan  of  massing  troops  on  a single 
point,  while  keeping  his  enemy’s  line  occupied,  de- 
feated them  without  any  considerable  struggle.  As 
for  that  general’s  great  battle  of  Mantinea,  the  an- 
cient Rossbach,  which  seems  really  to  have  been 
introduced  by  some  complicated  strategical  move- 
ments, we  owe  our  partial  knowledge  to  the  grudging 
aid  of  the  soldier  Xenophon.  But  both  generals 
were  in  the  distant  future  when  the  battle  of  Mara- 
thon was  being  fought. 

Yet  what  signifies  all  this  criticism  ? In  spite  of 
all  skepticism,  in  spite  of  all  contempt,  the  battle  of 
Marathon,  whether  badly  or  well  fought,  and  the 
troops  at  Marathon,  whether  well  or  ill  trained,  will 
ever  be  more  famous  than  any  other  battle  or  army, 
however  important  or  gigantic  its  dimensions.  Even 
in  this  very  war,  the  battles  of  Salamis  and  Platsea 
were  vastly  more  important  and  more  hotly  con- 
tested. The  losses  were  greater,  the  results  were 
more  enduring,  yet  thousands  have  heard  of  Marathon 
to  whom  the  other  names  are  unknown.  So  much 
for  literary  ability — so  much  for  the  power  of  talk- 


204 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ing  well  about  one’s  deeds.  Marathon  was  fought  by 
Athenians ; the  Athenians  eclipsed  the  other  Greeks 
as  far  as  the  other  Greeks  eclipsed  the  rest  of  the 
world,  in  literary  power.  This  battle  became  the 
literary  property  of  the  city,  hymned  by  poet,  cited 
by  orator,  told  by  aged  nurse,  lisped  by  stammering 
infant ; and  so  it  has  taken  its  position,  above  all 
criticism,  as  one  of  the  great  decisive  battles  which 
assured  the  liberty  of  the  West  against  Oriental  des- 
potism. 

The  plain  in  the  present  day  is  quite  bare  of  trees, 
and,  as  Colonel  Leake  observed,  appears  to  have 
been  so  at  the  time  of  the  battle,  from  the  vague 
account  of  its  evolutions.  There  was  a little  corn 
and  a few  other  crops  about  the  great  tumulus  ; and 
along  the  seashore,  whither  we  went  to  bathe,  there 
was  a large  herd  of  cows  and  oxen — a sight  not 
very  usual  in  Greece.  When  we  rushed  into  the 
shallow  blue  water,  striving  to  reach  swimming 
depth,  we  could  not  but  think  of  the  scene  when 
Kynsegirus  and  his  companions  rushed  in  armed  to 
stop  the  embarkation  of  the  Persians.  On  the 
shore,  then  teeming  with  ships  of  war,  with  trans- 
ports, with  fighting  and  flying  men,  there  was  now 
no  sign  of  life,  but  ourselves  in  the  water,  and  the 
lazy  cattle  and  their  silent  herdsmen  looking  upon 
us  in  wonder ; for,  though  very  hot,  it  was  only  May, 
and  the  modern  Greek  never  thinks  it  safe  to  bathe 
till  at  least  the  end  of  June — in  this  like  his  Italian 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


205 


neighbor.  There  was  not  a single  ship  or  boat  in 
the  straits;  there  was  no  sign  of  life  or  of  popula- 
tion on  the  coast  of  Euboea.  There  was  everywhere 
that  solitude  which  so  much  struck  Byron,  as  it 
strikes  every  traveller  in  Modern  Greece.  There 
was  not  even  the  child  or  beggar,  with  coins  and 
pieces  of  pottery,  who  is  so  troublesome  about  Italian 
ruins,  and  who  has  even  lately  appeared  at  the  Par- 
thenon, the  theatre  at  Argos,  and  a few  other  places 
in  Greece.  We  asked  the  herdsman  for  remnants 
of  arms  or  pieces  of  money : he  had  seen  such 
things  picked  up,  but  knew  nothing  of  their  value. 
Lord  Byron  tells  us  he  was  offered  the  purchase 
of  the  whole  plain  (six  miles  by  two)  for  about 
£900.  It  would  have  been  a fine  speculation  for 
an  antiquarian : but  I am  surprised,  as  he  was, 
rather  at  the  greatness  than  at  the  smallness  of 
the  price.  The  Greek  Government  might  very 
well,  even  now,  grant  the  fee-simple  to  any  one 
who  would  pay  the  ordinary  taxes  on  property, 
which  are  not,  I was  told,  very  heavy.  But  still  the 
jealousy  of  the  nation  would  not  tolerate  a foreign 
speculator. 

I have  already  spoken  (p.  154)  of  the  position  of 
the  pass  of  Daphne,  and  how  it  leads  the  traveller 
over  the  ridge  which  separates  the  plain  of  the 
Kephissus  from  the  Thriasian  plain.  I have  also 
spoken  at  length  of  the  country  about  the  Kephissus, 
with  its  olive  woods  and  its  nightingales.  When  we 


206 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


go  through  the  pass  of  Daphne — of  its  monastery  I 
shall  speak  in  another  chapter — a perfectly  new 
view  opens  before  us.  We  see  under  us  the  Thri- 
asian  plain,  well  covered  with  ripening  corn  and  other 
crops ; we  see  at  the  far  side  of  the  crescent-shaped 
bay  the  remains  of  Eleusis.  Behind  it,  and  all 
round  to  the  right  up  to  where  we  stand,  is  an  am- 
phitheatre of  hills — the  spurs  of  Mount  Pames, 
which  from  Phyle  reach  due  south  down  to  where 
we  stand,  and  due  west  to  the  inland  of  the  Thri- 
asian  plain,  till  they  meet  and  are  confounded  with 
the  slopes  of  Cithseron,  which  extend  for  miles  away 
behind  Eleusis.  On  the  sea-side,  to  our  left,  lies  the 
island  of  Salamis,  so  near  the  coast  that  the  sea 
seems  a calm  inland  lake,  lying  tortuously  between 
the  hills. 

Many  points  of  Greek  history  become  plain  to  us 
by  this  view.  We  see  how  true  was  the  epithet 
u rocky  Salamis,”  for  the  island,  though  it  looks  very 
insignificant  on  our  maps,  contains  lofty  mountains, 
with  very  bare  and  rocky  sides.  The  student  of 
Greek  geography  in  maps  should  note  this  feature. 
Thus,  Ithaca  on  the  map  does  not  suggest  the  real 
Ithaca,  which  from  most  points  looks  like  a high 
and  steep  mountain  standing  out  of  the  sea.  We 
begin  also  to  see  how  Salamis  was  equally  convenient 
(as  the  Irish  say)  to  both  Megara  and  Attica,  if  we 
consider  that  Eleusis  was  strictly  a part  of  Attica. 
The  harbor  of  the  Peirseus,  for  example,  would  be 


Salamis  from  Across  the  Bay 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


207 


quite  useless  if  an  enemy  were  watching  it  from 
Salamis.  But  we  also  come  to  see  the  sense  of  the 
old  legend,  that  Eleusis  had  originally  a separate 
king  or  government  from  that  of  Athens,  and  that 
the  two  cities  once  carried  on  war  against  each  other. 
The  towns  are  but  a few  miles  apart ; but  their  re- 
spective plains  are  so  distinctly  and  completely  sepa- 
rated by  the  pass  of  Daphne,  that  not  one  acre  of 
the  territory  of  Eleusis  can  be  seen  from  Athens, 
nor  of  Athens  from  Eleusis.  So  also,  lastly,  we 
come  to  feel  how  natural  is  the  remark  of  Thucy- 
dides, that  the  population  of  Athens,  when  the  Lace- 
daemonians invaded  Attica,  and  came  no  farther  than 
the  Thriasian  plain,  did  not  feel  the  terrors  of  a hos- 
tile invasion,  as  the  enemy  was  not  in  sight ; but 
when  he  crossed  the  pass,  and  began  to  ravage 
Acharnae  and  the  vale  of  Kephissus,  then  indeed, 
though  Eleusis  was  just  as  near,  and  just  as  much 
their  own,  they  felt  the  reality  of  the  invasion,  and 
were  for  the  first  time  deeply  dejected.  This  is  a 
good  example  of  that  combined  farness  and  nearness 
which  is  so  characteristic  about  most  neighboring 
cities  in  Greece. 

The  wretched  modern  village  of  Eleusis  is  pic- 
turesquely situated  near  the  sea,  on  the  old  site,  and 
there  are  still  to  be  seen  the  ruins,  not  only  of  the 
famous  temple  of  Demeter,  but  also  of  the  Propylsea, 
built  apparently  in  imitation  of  that  of  Mnesicles  on 
the  Acropolis  at  Athens,  though  the  site  of  both 


208 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


temple  and  Propylsea  are  at  Eleusis  low,  and  in  no 
way  striking. 

These  celebrated  ruins  are  wretchedly  defaced. 
Not  a column  or  a wall  is  now  standing,  and  we  can 
see  nothing  but  vast  fragments  of  pillars  and  capi- 
tals, and  a great  pavement,  all  of  white  marble, 
along  which  the  ancient  wheel-tracks  are  distinctly 
visible.  There  are  also  underground  vaults  of  small 
dimensions,  which,  the  people  tell  you,  were  intended 
for  the  Mysteries.  We  that  knew  what  vast  crowds 
attended  there  would  not  give  credence  to  this  igno- 
rant guess ; and  indeed  we  knew  from  distinct  evi- 
dence that  the  great  ceremony  took  place  in  a large 
building  specially  constructed  for  the  purpose.  The 
necessary  darkness  was  obtained  by  performing  the 
more  solemn  rites  at  night ; not  by  going  down  be- 
neath the  surface  of  the  earth. 

The  Greek  savants  have  at  last  laid  open,  and 
explained,  the  whole  plan  of  the  temple,  which  was 
built  by  Ictinus,  in  Pericles’s  time,  but  apparently 
restored  after  a destructive  fire  by  Roman  architects 
copying  faithfully  the  ancient  style.  The  excava- 
tors have  shown  that  the  shrine  had  strange  pecu- 
liarities. And  this  is  exactly  what  we  should 
expect.  For  although  no  people  adhered  more 
closely  to  traditional  forms  in  their  architecture,  no 
people  were  more  ready  to  modify  these  forms  with 
a view  to  practical  requirements.  Thus,  as  a rule, 
the  cella,  or  inner  chamber  of  the  temple,  only  con- 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


209 


tained  the  statue  of  the  god,  and  was  consequently 
small  and  narrow.  In  the  temple  at  Eleusis  has 
been  found  a great  inner  chamber  about  59  yards 
by  54,  hewn  out  of  the  rock  in  the  rear  of  the  edi- 
fice, and  capable  of  accommodating  a large  assem- 
bly.1 Here  then  it  seems  the  initiated — probably 
those  of  the  higher  degree,  epoptce  as  they  were 
called — witnessed  those  services  u which  brought 
them  peace  in  this  world,  and  a blessed  hope  for 
the  world  to  come.” 

Th$  way  into  the  temple  was  adorned  with  two 
Propylsea — one  of  the  classical  period,  and  by  Philo 
(311  b.  c.),  another  set  up  by  a Roman,  App.  Clau- 
dius Pulcher,  in  48  B.  C.,  after  you  had  passed 
through  the  former.  The  great  temple,  raised  upon 
a natural  platform,  looks  out  toward  Salamis,  and 
the  narrow  line  of  azure  which  separates  it  from  the 
land.  Turning  to  the  left  as  you  stand  at  the  tem- 
ple front,  the  eye  wanders  over  the  rich  plain  of 
Eleusis,  now  dotted  over  with  villages,  and  colored 
(in  April)  with  the  rich  brown  of  ploughing  and  the 
splendid  green  of  sprouting  wheat.  This  plain  had 
multiplied  its  wealth  manifold  since  I first  saw  it, 
and  led  us  to  hope  that  the  peasants  were  waking 
up  to  the  great  market  which  is  near  them  at  Athens. 
The  track  of  the  old  sacred  way  along  the  Thriasian 
plain  is  often  visible,  for  much  of  the  sea-coast  is 

1 So  Strabo  describes  it,  ix.  1,  $ 12.  For  further  details  consult 
the  Guide  Joanne  for  Athens  (1888),  p.  201. 

14 


210 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


marshy,  so  the  road  was  cut  out  in  many  places 
along  the  spurs  of  the  rocky  hill  of  Daphne.  The 
present  road  goes  between  the  curious  salt-lakes 
(Rheitoi)  and  the  shore — salt-lakes  full  of  sea-fish, 
and  evidently  fed  by  great  natural  springs,  for  there 
is  a perpetual  strong  outflow  to  the  tideless  sea.  I 
know  not  whether  this  natural  curiosity  has  been 
explained  by  the  learned. 

It  is,  of  course,  the  celebrated  Mysteries — the 
Greater  Eleusinia , as  they  were  called — which  give 
to  the  now  wretched  village  of  Eleusis,  with  its 
hopeless  ruins,  so  deep  an  interest.  This  wonder- 
ful feast,  handed  down  from  the  remotest  antiquity, 
maintained  its  august  splendor  all  through  the 
greater  ages  of  Greek  history,  down  to  the  times 
of  decay  and  trifling — when  everything  else  in  the 
country  had  become  mean  and  contemptible.  Even 
Cicero,  who  was  of  the  initiated  himself,  a man  of 
wide  culture  and  of  a skeptical  turn  of  mind — even 
Cicero  speaks  of  it  as  the  great  product  of  the  cult- 
ure of  Athens.  u Much  that  is  excellent  and  di- 
vine,” says  he,1  u does  Athens  seem  to  me  to  have 
produced  and  added  to  our  life,  but  nothing  better 
than  those  Mysteries,  by  which  we  are  formed  and 
moulded  from  a rude  and  savage  life  to  humanity ; 
and  indeed  in  the  Mysteries  we  perceive  the  real 
principles  of  life,  and  learn  not  only  to  live  happily, 
but  to  die  with  a fairer  hope.”  These  are  the  words 
1 Be  Legg.,  II.  14,  \ 36. 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


211 


of  a man  writing,  as  I have  said,  in  the  days  of  the 
ruin  and  prostration  of  Greece.  Can  we  then  won- 
der at  the  enthusiastic  language  of  the  Homeric 
Hymn,1  of  Pindar,2  of  Sophocles,3  of  Aristophanes,4 
of  Plato,5  of  Isocrates,6  of  Chrysippus7?  Every 
manner  of  writer — religious  poet,  worldly  poet,  skep- 
tical philosopher,  orator — all  are  of  one  mind  about 
this,  far  the  greatest  of  all  the  religious  festivals  of 
Greece. 

To  what  did  it  owe  this  transcendent  character  ? 
It  was  not  because  men  here  worshipped  exceptional 
gods,  for  the  worship  of  Demeter  and  Cora  was  an 
old  and  widely  diffused  cult  all  over  Greece : and 
there  were  other  Eleusinia  in  various  places.  It  was 
not  because  the  ceremony  consisted  of  mysteries,  of 
hidden  acts  and  words,  which  it  was  impious  to 
reveal,  and  which  the  initiated  alone  might  know. 
For  the  habit  of  secret  worship  was  practised  in 
every  state,  where  special  clans  were  charged  with 
the  care  of  special  secret  services,  which  no  man 
else  might  know.  Nay,  even  within  the  ordinary 
homes  of  the  Greeks  there  were  these  Mysteries. 
Neither  was  it  because  of  the  splendor  of  the  temple 
and  its  appointments,  which  never  equalled  the 
Panathensea  at  the  Parthenon,  or  the  riches  of 
Delphi,  or  Olympia.  There  is  only  one  reasonable 

1 in  Cer.  v.  480.  2 Thren.  (frag.)  3 Oed.  Col.  1042. 

* Ran.  455.  5 Phced.  cc.  29,  30.  6 Paneg.  § 6. 

1 Etym.  Mag.,  s.  v.  Telerij. 


212 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


cause,  and  it  is  that  upon  which  all  our  serious 
authorities  agree.  The  doctrine  taught  in  the  Mys- 
teries was  a faith  which  revealed  hopeful  things 
about  the  world  to  come ; and  which — not  so  much 
as  a condition,  but  as  a consequence,  of  this  clearer 
light,  this  higher  faith — made  them  better  citizens 
and  better  men.  This  faith  was  taught  them  in  the 
Mysteries  through  symbols,1  through  prayer  and 
fasting,  through  wild  rejoicings ; but,  as  Aristotle 
expressly  tells  us,  it  was  reached  not  by  intellectual 
persuasion,  but  by  a change  into  a new  moral  state 
— in  fact,  by  being  spiritually  revived. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  strangest  and  most  strik- 
ing analogy  to  our  religion  in  the  Greek  mythology ; 
for  here  we  have  a higher  faith  publicly  taught, — 
any  man  might  present  himself  to  be  initiated, — and 
taught,  not  in  opposition  to  the  popular  creed,  but 
merely  by  deepening  it,  and  showing  to  the  ordinary 
worldling  its  spiritual  power.  The  belief  in  the 
Goddess  Demeter  and  her  daughter,  the  queen  of 
the  nether  world,  was,  as  I have  said,  common  all 
over  Greece  ; but  even  as  nowadays  we  are  told  that 
there  may  be  two  kinds  of  belief  of  the  same  truths 
— one  of  the  head  and  another  of  the  heart — just 

1 There  seems  no  doubt  that  some  of  these  symbols,  derived 
from  old  nature-worship,  were  very  gross,  and  quite  inconsistent 
with  modern  notions  of  religion.  But  even  these  were  features 
hallowed  and  ennobled  by  the  spirit  of  the  celebrants,  whose 
reverence  blinded  their  eyes,  while  lifting  up  their  hearts. 


Temple  of  Mysteries,  Eleusis 


EXCURSIONS  IN  ATTICA. 


213 


as  the  most  excellent  man  of  the  world,  who  believes 
all  the  creeds  of  the  Church,  is  called  an  unbeliever, 
in  the  higher  sense,  by  our  Evangelical  Christians ; 
so  the  ordinary  Greek,  though  he  prayed  and  offered 
at  the  Temple  of  Demeter,  was  held  by  the  initiated 
at  the  Mysteries  to  be  wallowing  in  the  mire  of 
ignorance,  and  stumbling  in  the  night  of  gloom — he 
was  held  to  live  without  real  light,  and  to  die  with- 
out hope,  in  wretched  despair.1 

The  very  fact  that  it  was  not  lawful  to  divulge  the 
Mystery  has  prevented  the  many  writers  who  knew 
it  from  giving  us  any  description  by  which  we  might 
gain  a clear  idea  of  this  wonderful  rite.  We  have 
hints  of  various  sacred  vessels,  of  various  priests 
known  by  special  technical  names ; of  dramatic 
representations  of  the  rape  of  Cora,  and  of  the 
grief  of  her  mother  5 of  her  complaints  before  Zeus, 
and  the  final  reconciliation.  We  hear  of  scenes  of 

1 In  the  fragments  of  Plutarch’s  De  anima  there  are  some  very 
striking  passages  on  this  subject.  “ After  this,”  he  says,  evidently 
describing  some  part  of  the  ceremony,  “ there  came  a great  light, 
there  were  shown  pure  places  and  meadows,  with  dances,  and  all 
that  was  splendid  and  holy  to  see  and  hear,  in  which  he  who  is 
now  perfected  by  initation,  and  has  obtained  freedom  and  remis- 
sion, joins  in  the  devotions,  with  his  head  crowned,  in  the  company 
of  pure  and  holy  men,  and  beholds  from  thence  the  unclean  un- 
initiated crowd  of  mortals  in  deep  mire  and  mist,  trodden  down 
and  crowded  by  each  other,  but  in  fear  of  death,  adhering  to  their 
ills  through  want  of  faith  in  the  goods  beyond.  Since  from  these 
you  may  clearly  see  that  the  connection  of  the  soul  with  the  body 
is  a coercion  against  nature.” 


214 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


darkness  and  fear,  in  which  the  hopeless  state  of 
the  unbelievers  was  portrayed ; of  light  and  glory, 
to  which  the  convert  attained,  when  at  last  his  eyes 
were  opened  to  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil. 

But  all  these  things  are  fragmentary  glimpses,  as 
are  also  the  doctrines  hinted  of  the  Unity  of  God, 
and  of  atonement  by  sacrifice.  There  remains 
nothing  clear  and  certain,  but  the  unanimous  verdict 
as  to  the  greatness,  the  majesty,  and  the  awe  of  the 
services,  and  as  to  the  great  spiritual  knowledge  and 
comfort  which  they  conveyed.  The  consciousness 
of  guilt  was  not,  indeed,  first  taught  by  them,  but 
was  felt  generally,  and  felt  very  keenly  by  the 
Greek  mind.  These  Mysteries  were  its  Gospel  of 
reconciliation  with  the  offended  gods. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES THE  PASSES  OF  PARNES 

AND  OF  CITHAERON,  ELEUTHERAE,  PLATAEA . 

No  ordinary  student,  looking  at  the  map  of  Attica 
and  Boeotia,  can  realize  the  profound  and  complete 
separation  between  these  two  countries.  Except  at 
the  very  northern  extremity,  where  the  fortified 
town  of  Oropus  guarded  an  easy  boundary,  all  the 
frontier  consists  not  merely  of  steep  mountains,  but 
of  parallel  and  intersecting  ridges  and  gorges,  which 
contain  indeed  a few  alpine  valleys,  such  as  that  of 
(Enoe,  but  which  are,  as  a rule,  wild  and  barren, 
easily  defensible  by  a few  against  many,  and  totally 
unfit  for  the  site  of  any  considerable  town,  or  any 
advanced  culture.  As  I before  stated,  the  traveller 
can  pass  through  by  Dekelea,  or  he  can  pass  most 
directly  by  Phyle,  the  fort  which  Thrasybulus  seized 
when  he  desired  to  reconquer  Athens  with  his  demo- 
cratic exiles.  The  historians  usually  tell  us  “ that 
he  seized  and  fortified  Phyle  a statement  which 
the  present  aspect  of  it  seems  to  render  very  doubt- 
ful indeed.  It  is  quite  impossible  that  the  great  hill- 
fort  of  the  very  finest  Attic  building,  which  is  still 
remaining  and  admired  by  all,  could  have  been 

215 


216 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


u knocked  up v by  Thrasybulus  and  bis  exiles. 
The  careful  construction  and  the  enormous  extent 
of  the  building  compel  us  to  suppose  it  the  work  of 
a rich  state,  and  of  a deliberate  plan  of  fortification. 
It  seems  very  unlikely,  for  these  reasons,  that  it  was 
built  after  the  days  of  Thrasybulus,  or  that  so  im- 
portant a point  of  attack  should  have  been  left  un- 
guarded in  the  greater  days  of  Athens.  I am  there- 
fore convinced  that  the  fort,  being  built  long  before, 
and  being,  in  fact,  one  of  the  well-known  fortified 
denies  through  Attica,  had  been  to  some  extent  dis- 
mantled, or  allowed  to  fall  into  decay,  at  the  end  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War,  but  that  its  solid  structure 
made  it  a matter  of  very  little  labor  for  the  exiles 
to  render  it  strong  and  easily  defensible. 

This  is  one  of  the  numerous  instances  in  which  a 
single  glance  at  the  locality  sets  right  an  historical 
statement  that  has  eluded  suspicion  for  ages.  The 
fort  of  Phyle,  like  that  of  Eleutherse,  of  which  I 
shall  speak,  and  like  those  of  Messene  and  of  Orcho- 
menus,  is  built  of  square  blocks  of  stone,  carefully 
cut,  and  laid  together  without  a particle  of  rubble  or 
cement,  but  so  well  fitted  as  to  be  able  to  resist  the 
wear  of  ages  better  than  almost  any  other  building. 
I was  informed  by  M.  Emile  Burnouf,  that  in  the 
case  of  a fort  at  Megara,  which  I did  not  see,  there 
are  even  polygonal  blocks,  of  which  the  irregular  and 
varying  angles  are  fitted  with  such  precision  that  it 
is  difficult,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Parthenon,  to  detect 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


217 


the  joinings  of  the  stones.  The  blocks  are  by  no 
means  so  colossal  in  these  buildings  as  in  the  great 
ruins  about  Mycense  $ but  the  fitting  is  closer,  and 
the  sites  on  which  we  find  them  very  lofty,  and  with 
precipitous  ascents.  This  style  of  building  is  spe- 
cially mentioned  by  Thucydides  (i.  93)  as  being  em- 
ployed in  the  building  of  the  walls  of  the  Peirseus 
in  the  days  of  Themistocles,  apparently  in  contrast  to 
the  rude  and  hurried  construction  of  the  city  walls. 
But  he  speaks  of  the  great  stones  being  not  only  cut 
square,  but  fastened  with  clamps  of  iron  soldered 
with  lead.  I am  not  awrare  that  any  traces  of  this 
are  found  in  the  remaining  hill-forts.  The  walls  of 
the  Peirseus  have,  unfortunately,  long  since  almost 
totally  disappeared. 

The  way  from  Athens  to  Phyle  leads  north-west 
through  the  rich  fields  of  the  old  deme  of  Acharnse  5 
and  we  wonder  at  first  why  they  should  be  so  noted 
as  charcoal-burners.  But  as  we  approach  Mount 
Parnes,  we  find  that  the  valley  is  bounded  by 
tracts  of  hillside  fit  for  nothing  but  pine  forest.  A 
vast  deal  of  wooding  still  remains ; it  is  clear  that 
these  forests  were  the  largest  and  most  convenient 
to  supply  Athens  with  firewood  or  charcoal.  As 
usual,  there  are  many  glens  and  river-courses 
through  the  rugged  country  through  which  we 
ascend — here  and  there  a village,  in  one  secluded 
nook  a little  monastery,  hidden  from  the  world,  if 
not  from  its  cares.  There  is  the  usual  Qreek  vege- 


218 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


tation  beside  the  path ; not  perhaps  luxuriant  to  our 
Northern  eye s,  but  full  of  colors  of  its  own — the 
glowing  anemone,  the  blood-red  poppy,  the  delicate 
cistus  on  a rocky  surface,  with  foliage  rather  gray 
and  silvery  than  green.  The  pine-trees  sound,  as 
the  breeze  sweeps  up  the  valleys,  and  lavish  their 
vigorous  fragrance  through  the  air. 

There  is  something  inexpressibly  bracing  in  this 
solitude,  if  solitude  it  can  be  called,  where  the  forest 
speaks  to  the  eye  and  ear,  and  fills  the  imagination 
with  the  mystery  of  its  myriad  forms.  Now  and  then 
too  the  peculiar  cadence  of  those  bells  which  hardly 
varies  throughout  all  the  lands  of  the  south,  tells 
you  that  a flock  of  goats,  or  goat-like  sheep,  is  near, 
attended  by  solemn,  silent  children,  whose  eyes  seem 
to  have  no  expression  beyond  that  of  vague  wonder 
in  their  gaze.  These  are  the  flocks  of  some  village 
below,  not  those  of  the  nomad  Vlachs,  who  bring 
with  them  their  tents  and  dogs,  and  make  gipsy 
encampments  in  the  unoccupied  country. 

At  last  we  see  high  over  us  the  giant  fort  of  Phyle 
— set  upon  a natural  precipice,  which  defends  it 
amply  for  half  its  circuit.  The  point  of  occupation 
was  well  chosen,  for  while  within  sight  of  Athens, 
and  near  enough  to  afford  a sure  refuge  to  those  who 
could  escape  by  night  and  fly  to  the  mountain,  its 
distance  (some  15  miles)  and  the  steep  and  rugged 
ascent,  made  it  impossible  for  weak  and  aged  people 
to  crowd  into  it  and  mar  the  efficiency  of  its  garrison. 


FKOM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


219 


With  the  increase  of  his  force  Thrasybulus  began 
successful  raids  into  the  plain,  then  a rapid  move- 
ment to  Peirseus  5 ultimately,  as  may  be  read  in  all 
histories,  he  accomplished  the  liberation  of  his  native 
city. 

We  did  not  pass  into  Boeotia  by  the  way  of  Phyle, 
preferring  to  take  the  longer  route  through  Eleusis. 
But  no  sooner  had  we  left  Eleusis  than  we  began  to 
ascend  into  the  rough  country,  which  is  the  preface 
to  the  wild  mountain  passes  of  Cithseron.  It  is, 
indeed,  very  difficult  to  find  where  one  range  of 
mountains  begins  and  another  ends,  anywhere 
throughout  Greece.  There  is  generally  one  high 
peak,  which  marks  a whole  chain  or  system  of 
mountains,  and  after  which  the  system  is  called ; 
but  all  closer  specification  seems  lost,  on  account  of 
the  immense  number  of  ridges  and  points  which 
crowd  upon  the  view  in  all  directions.  Thus  the 
chain  of  Parnes,  after  throwing  out  a spur  toward 
the  south,  which  divides  the  Athenian  and  the 
Thriasian  plains,  sweeps  round  the  latter  in  a sort 
of  amphitheatre,  and  joins  the  system  of  Cithseron 
(Kitheron),  which  extends  almost  parallel  with 
Parnes.  A simple  look  at  a good  map  explains 
these  things  by  supplementing  mere  description. 
The  only  thing  which  must  be  specially  enforced 
is,  that  all  the  region  where  a plain  is  not  expressly 
named  is  made  up  of  broken  mountain  ridges  and 
rocky  defiles,  so  that  it  may  fairly  be  called  an 


220 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


alpine  country.  A fellow-traveller,  who  had  just 
been  in  Norway,  was  perpetually  struck  with  its 
resemblance  to  the  Norwegian  highlands. 

I will  only  mention  one  other  fact  which  illustrates 
the  consequent  isolation.  We  have  a river  Kephis- 
sus  in  the  plain  of  Athens.  As  soon  as  we  cross  the 
pass  of  Daphne  we  have  another  Kephissus  in  the 
Thriasian  plain.  Within  a day’s  journey,  or  nearly 
so,  we  have  another  Kephissus,  losing  itself  in  the 
lake  Copais,  not  far  from  Orchomenus.  This  repe- 
tition of  the  same  name  shows  how  little  intercourse 
people  have  in  the  country,  how  little  they  travel, 
and  how  there  is  no  danger  of  confusing  these  iden- 
tical names.  Such  a fact,  trifling  as  it  is,  illustrates 
very  powerfully  the  isolation  which  the  Greek  moun- 
tains produce. 

There  is  a good  road  from  Athens  to  Thebes, — a 
very  unusual  thing  in  Greece, — and  we  were  able 
to  drive  with  four  horses,  after  a fashion  which 
would  have  seemed  very  splendid  in  old  days.  But, 
strange  to  say,  the  old  Greek  fashion  of  driving  four 
horses  abreast,  two  being  yoked  to  the  pole,  and  two 
outriggers,  or  nap&ozipoi,  as  they  were  called,  has 
disappeared  from  Greece,  whereas  it  still  survives  in 
Southern  Italy.  On  the  other  hand  the  Greeks  are 
more  daring  drivers  than  the  Italians,  being  indeed 
braver  in  all  respects,  and,  when  a road  is  to  be  had, 
a very  fast  pace  is  generally  kept  up. 

As  usual,  the  country  was  covered  with  brush- 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


221 


wood,  and  with  numbers  of  old  gnarled  fir-trees, 
which  bore  everywhere  upon  their  stems  the  great 
wounds  of  the  hatchet,  made  to  extract  the  resin  for 
the  flavoring  of  wine.  Rare  flocks  of  goats,  with 
their  peculiar,  dull,  tinkling  bells — bells  which  have 
the  same  make  and  tone  all  through  Calabria,  through 
Sicily,  and  through  Greece — were  the  only  sign  of 
human  occupation  or  of  population.  But  when  you 
look  for  houses,  there  is  nothing  in  the  shape  of  wall 
or  roof,  save  an  occasional  station,  where,  but  a few 
years  since,  soldiers  were  living,  to  keep  the  road 
safe  from  bandits.  At  last  we  came  upon  the  camp 
of  some  Vlach  shepherds — a thing  reminding  one 
far  more  of  a gipsy  camp  than  anything  else — a few 
dark -brown  skins  falling  over  two  upright  poles,  so 
as  to  form  a roof-shaped  tent,  of  which  the  entrance 
looked  so  absolutely  black  as  to  form  quite  a patch 
in  the  landscape.  There  is  mere  room  for  lying  in 
these  tents  by  night  ; and,  I suppose,  in  the  summer 
weather  most  of  these  wild  shepherds  will  not  con- 
descend even  to  this  shelter.1 * * * * 

After  some  hours7  drive  we  reached  a grassy  dell, 
shaded  by  large  plane-trees,  where  a lonely  little 
public-house — if  I may  so  call  it — of  this  construc- 

1 The  Greeks  always  regard  these  nomads  as  foreigners  in 

race,  and  incapable  of  any  settled  or  civilized  life.  They  do  great 

mischief  to  young  trees  and  fences,  which  they  never  respect.  Yet 

when  arrested  for  doing  mischief  they  are  protected  by  the  sym- 

pathies of  the  Greeks,  who  hate  all  coercion,  however  reasonable. 


222 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


tion  invited  us  to  stop  for  watering  the  horses,  and 
inspecting  more  closely  the  owner.  There  was  the 
usual  supply  of  such  places — red  and  white  wine  in 
small  casks,  excellent  fresh  water,  and  lucumia, , or 
Turkish  delight.  Not  only  had  the  owner  his  belt 
full  of  knives  and  pistols,  but  there  was  hanging  up 
in  a sort  of  rack  a most  picturesque  collection  of 
swords  and  guns — all  made  in  Turkish  fashion,  with 
ornamented  handles  and  stocks,  and  looking  as 
if  they  might  be  more  dangerous  to  the  sportsman 
than  to  his  game.  While  we  were  being  served  by 
this  wild-looking  man,  in  this  suspicious  place — in 
fact,  it  looked  like  the  daily  resort  of  bandits — his 
wife,  a comely  young  woman,  dressed  in  the  usual 
dull  blue,  red,  and  white,  disappeared  through  the 
back  way,  and  hid  herself  among  the  trees.  This 
fear  of  being  seen  by  strangers — no  doubt  caused  by 
jealousy  among  men,  and,  possibly,  by  an  Oriental 
tone  in  the  country — is  a striking  feature  through 
most  parts  of  Greece.  It  is  said  to  be  a remnant  of 
the  Turkish  influence,  but  seems  to  me  to  lie  deeper, 
and  to  be  even  an  echo  of  the  old  Greek  days.  The 
same  feeling  is  prevalent  in  most  parts  of  Sicily.  In 
the  towns  there  you  seldom  see  ladies  in  the  streets  ; 
and  in  the  evenings,  except  when  the  play-going 
public  is  returning  from  the  theatre,  there  are  only 
men  visible. 

After  leaving  this  resting-place,  about  eleven  in 
the  morning,  we  did  not  meet  a village,  or  even  a 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


223 


single  house  till  we  had  crossed  Cithaeron,  after  six 
in  the  evening,  and  descried  the  modern  hamlet  of 
Platsea  on  the  slopes  to  our  left.  But  once  or  twice 
through  the  day  a string  of  four  or  five  mules,  with 
bright,  richly  striped  rugs  over  their  wooden  saddles, 
and  men  dressed  still  more  brightly  sitting  lady- 
fashion  on  them,  were  threading  their  way  along  the 
winding  road.  The  tinkling  of  the  mules’  bells  and 
the  wild  Turkish  chants  of  the  men  were  a welcome 
break  in  the  uniform  stillness  of  the  journey.  The 
way  becomes  gradually  wilder  and  steeper,  though 
often  descending  to  cross  a shady  valley,  which  opens 
to  the  right  and  left,  in  a long,  narrow  vista,  and 
shows  blue  far-off  hills  of  other  mountain  chains. 
One  of  these  valleys  was  pointed  out  to  us  as  (Enoe, 
an  outlying  deme  of  Attica,  fortified  in  Periclean 
days,  and  which  the  Peloponnesian  army  attacked, 
as  Thucydides  tells  us,  and  failed  to  take,  on  their 
invasion  of  Attica  at  the  opening  of  the  war.  There 
are  two  or  three  strong  square  towers  in  this  valley, 
close  to  the  road,  but  not  the  least  like  any  old 
Greek  fort,  and  quite  incapable  of  holding  any  gar- 
rison. The  site  is  utterly  unsuitable,  and  there 
seemed  no  remains  of  any  walled  town. 

These  facts  led  me  to  reflect  upon  the  narrative 
of  Thucydides,  who  evidently  speaks  of  GLnoe  as 
the  border  fort  of  Attica,  and  yet  says  not  a word 
about  Eleutherae,  which  is  really  the  border,  the 
great  fort,  and  the  key  to  the  passes  of  Cithaeron. 


224 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


The  first  solution  which  suggests  itself  is,  that  the 
modern  Greeks  have  given  the  wrong  names  to  these 
places,  and  that  by  (Enoe  Thucydides  really  means 
the  place  now  known  as  Eleutherse.1  Most  decidedly, 
if  the  fort  which  is  now  there  existed  at  the  opening 
of  the  Peloponnesian  War,  he  cannot  possibly  have 
overlooked  it  in  his  military  history  of  the  campaign. 
And  yet  it  seems  certain  that  we  must  place  the 
building  of  this  fort  at  the  epoch  of  Athens’s  great- 
ness, when  Attic  influence  was  paramount  in  Boeotia, 
and  when  the  Athenians  could,  at  their  leisure,  and 
without  hindrance,  construct  this  fort,  which  com- 
mands the  passes  into  Attica,  before  they  diverge 
into  various  valleys,  about  the  region  of  the  so-called 
(Enoe. 

For,  starting  from  Thebes,  the  slope  of  Cithseron 
is  a single  unbroken  ascent  up  to  the  ridge,  through 
which,  nearly  over  the  village  of  Platsea,  there  is  a 
cut  that  naturally  indicates  the  pass.  But  when  the 
traveller  has  ascended  from  Thebes  to  this  point  he 
finds  a steep  descent  into  a mountainous  and  broken 
region,  where  he  must  presently  choose  between  a 
gorge  to  the  right  or  to  the  left,  and  must  wander 
about  zigzag  among  mountains,  so  as  to  find  his  way 

1 Colonel  Leake  already  felt  these  difficulties,  and  moves 
Eleuthene  a few  miles  to  the  south-west.  But  (Enoe  and  Eleu- 
therae  must  have  been  close  together,  from  the  allusion  in  the  Anti - 
ope  of  Euripides.  Cf.  Eurip.,  frag.  179  (ed.  Nauck),  and  the 
passages  quoted  there. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


225 


toward  Athens.  And  although  I did  not  examine 
all  the  passes  accurately,  it  was  perfectly  obvious 
that,  as  soon  as  the  first  defile  was  left  behind,  an 
invader  could  find  various  ways  of  eluding  the  de- 
fenders of  Attica,  and  penetrating  into  the  Thriasian 
plain,  or,  by  Phyle,  into  that  of  Athens.  Accord- 
ingly, the  Athenians  choose  a position  of  remarkable 
strength,  just  inside  the  last  crowning  ascent,  where 
all  the  ways  converge  to  pass  the  crest  of  the  moun- 
tain into  Platsea.  Here  a huge  rock,  interposing 
between  the  mountains  on  each  side,  strives,  as  it 
were,  to  bar  the  path,  which  accordingly  divides 
like  a torrent  bed,  and  passes  on  either  side,  close 
under  the  walls  of  the  fort  which  occupies  the  top 
of  the  rock.  From  this  point  the  summit  of  the 
pass  is  about  two  or  three  miles  distant,  and  easily 
visible,  so  that  an  outpost  there,  commanding  a view 
of  the  whole  Theban  plain,  could  signal  any  approach 
to  the  fort  with  ample  notice. 

The  position  of  the  fort  at  Phyle,  above  described, 
is  very  similar.  It  lies  within  a mile  of  the  top  of 
the  pass,  on  the  Attic  side,  within  sight  of  Athens, 
and  yet  near  enough  to  receive  the  scouts  from  the 
top,  and  resist  all  sudden  attack.  No  force  could 
invade  Attica  without  leaving  a large  force  to  be- 
siege it. 

Looking  backward  into  Attica,  the  whole  moun- 
tainous tract  of  (Enoe  is  visible  ; and,  though  we 
cannot  now  tell  the  points  actually  selected,  there 

15 


226 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


is  no  difficulty  in  finding  several  which  could  easily 
pass  the  signal  from  Eleutherte  to  Daphne,  and 
thence  to  Athens.  We  know  that  fire  signals  were 
commonly  used  among  the  Greeks,  and  we  can  here 
see  an  instance  where  news  could  be  telegraphed 
some  thirty  miles  over  a very  difficult  country  in  a 
few  moments.  Meanwhile,  as  succors  might  be 
some  time  in  arriving,  the  fort  was  of  such  size  and 
strength  as  to  hold  a large  garrison,  and  stop  any 
army  which  could  not  afford  to  mask  it,  by  leaving 
there  a considerable  force.1 

The  site  was,  of  course,  an  old  one,  and  the  name 
Eleutherse,  if  correctly  applied  to  this  fort,  points 
to  a time  when  some  mountain  tribe  maintained  its 
independence  here  against  the  governments  on  either 
side  in  the  plain,  whence  the  place  was  called  the 
u Free  v place,  or  Liberties  (as  we  have  the  term  in 
Dublin).  There  is  further  evidence  of  this  in  a 
small  irregular  fort  which  was  erected  almost  in  the 
centre  of  the  larger  and  later  enclosure.  This  older 
fort  is  of  polygonal  masonry,  very  inferior  to  the 
other,  and  has  fallen  into  ruins,  while  the  later  walls 
and  towers  are  in  many  places  perfect.  The  outer 
wall  follows  the  nature  of  the  position,  the  principle 
being  to  find  everywhere  an  abrupt  descent  from 
the  fortification,  so  that  an  assault  must  be  very 
difficult.  On  the  north  side,  where  the  rock  is  pre- 

1 This  the  Peloponnesians  did  at  (Enoe,  according  to  Thucy- 
dides ; perhaps  therefore  at  tins  very  place. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


227 


cipitous,  the  wall  runs  along*  in  a right  line ; whereas 
on  the  south  side,  over  the  modern  road,  it  dips 
down  the  hill,  and  makes  a semicircular  sweep,  so 
as  to  crown  the  steepest  part  of  a gentler  ascent. 
Thus  the  whole  enclosure  is  of  a half-moon  shape. 
But  while  the  straight  wall  is  almost  intact,  the 
curved  side  has  in  many  places  fallen  to  pieces. 
The  building  is  the  most  perfect  I have  ever  seen 
of  the  kind,  made  of  square  hewn  stones,  evidently 
quarried  on  the  rock  itself.  The  preserved  wall  is 
about  200  yards  long,  six  and  a half  feet  wide,  and 
apparently  not  more  than  ten  or  twelve  feet  high ; 
but,  at  intervals  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  yards,  there 
are  seven  towers  twice  as  deep  as  the  wall,  while 
the  path  along  the  battlement  goes  right  through 
them.  Each  tower  has  a doorway  on  the  outside 
of  it,  and  close  beside  this  there  is  also  a doorway 
in  the  wall,  somewhat  larger.  These  doorways, 
made  by  a huge  lintel,  about  seven  and  a half  feet 
long,  laid  over  an  aperture  in  the  building,  with  its 
edges  very  smoothly  and  carefully  cut,  are  for  the 
most  part  absolutely  perfect.  As  I could  see  no 
sign  of  doorposts  or  bolts — a feature  still  noticeable 
in  all  temple  gates — it  is  evident  that  wooden  doors 
and  door-posts  were  fitted  into  these  doorways — a 
dangerous  form  of  defence,  were  not  the  entrances 
strongly  protected  by  the  towers  close  beside  them 
and  over  them.  There  were  staircases,  leading  from 
the  top  of  the  wall  outward,  beside  some  of  the 


228 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


towers.  The  whole  fort  is  of  such  a size  as  to  hold 
not  merely  a garrison,  but  also  the  flocks  and  herds 
of  the  neighboring  shepherds,  in  case  of  a sudden 
and  dangerous  invasion  j and  this,  no  doubt,  was 
the  primary  intention  of  all  the  older  forts  in  Greece 
and  elsewhere.1 

The  day  was,  as  usual,  very  hot  and  fine,  and  the 
hills  were  of  that  beautiful  purple  blue  which  Sir  F. 
Leighton  so  well  reproduces  in  the  backgrounds  of 
his  Greek  pictures ; but  a soft  breeze  brought  occa- 
sional clouds  across  the  sun,  and  varied  the  land- 
scape with  deeper  hues.  Above  us  on  each  side 
were  the  noble  crags  of  Cithseron,  with  their  gray 
rocks  and  their  gnarled  fir-trees.  Far  below,  a 
bright  mountain  stream  was  rushing  beside  the  pass 
into  Attica ; around  us  were  the  great  walls  of  the 
old  Greeks,  laid  together  with  that  symmetry,  that 
beauty,  and  that  strength  which  marks  all  their 
work.  The  massive  towers  are  now  defending  a 
barren  rock ; the  enclosure  which  had  seen  so  many 
days  of  war  and  rapine  was  lying  open  and  deserted  ; 
the  whole  population  was  gone  long  centuries  ago. 
There  is  still  liberty  there,  and  there  is  peace — but 
the  liberty  and  the  peace  of  solitude. 

1 There  was  no  photograph  of  this  very  fine  building  existing 
when  I was  in  Greece.  The  only  drawing  of  it  I have  seen  is  in 
the  plates  of  Dodwell’s  Archaeological  Tour  in  Greece — a splendid 
book.  The  fort  of  Phyle,  though  smaller,  possesses  all  the  feat- 
ures described  in  this  fort,  and  shows  that  they  represent  a gen' 
eral  type. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


229 


A short  drive  from  Eleutherse  brought  us  to  the 
top  of  the  pass,1  and  we  suddenly  came  upon  one  of 
those  views  in  Greece  which,  when  we  think  of 
them,  leave  us  in  doubt  whether  the  instruction  they 
give  us,  or  the  delight,  is  the  greater.  The  whole 
plain  of  Thebes,  and,  beyond  the  intervening  ridge, 
the  plain  of  Orchomenus,  with  its  shining  lake,  were 
spread  out  before  us.  The  sites  of  all  the  famous 
towns  were  easily  recognizable.  Platsea  only  was 
straight  beneath  us,  on  the  slopes  of  the  mountain, 
and  as  yet  hidden  by  them.  The  plan  of  all  Boeotia 
unfolded  itself  with  great  distinctness — two  consider- 
able plains,  separated  by  a low  ridge,  and  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  chains  of  mountains.  On  the  north 
there  are  the  rocky  hills  which  hem  in  Lake  Copais 
from  the  Euboean  strait,  and  which  nature  had 
pierced  before  the  days  of  history,  aided  by  Minyan 
engineers,  whose  xaza^odpa,  as  they  were  called, 
were  tunnelled  drains,  which  drew  water  from  thous- 
ands of  acres  of  the  richest  land.  On  the  east, 
where  we  stood,  was  the  gloomy  Cithseron — the 
home  of  awful  mythical  crimes,  and  of  wild  Bac- 

1 This  pass  (seized  by  the  Persian  cavalry  before  the  battle  of 
Plateea,  in  order  to  stop  the  Greek  provision  trains)  was  called  rpelq 
KE<j>dXai  by  the  Thebans,  but  dpvbq  neQ.  by  the  Athenians  (Herod, 
ix.  39) — evidently  the  same  old  name  diversely  interpreted  by 
diverse  Vol/cs-etymologien.  rpelq  and  dpvoq  are  pronounced  almost 
alike  in  modern  Greek,  probably  therefore  in  old  Greek  likewise. 
But  I will  not  touch  the  thorny  question  of  old  Greek  pronuncia- 
tion. 


230 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


chanalian  orgies,  the  theme  of  many  a splendid 
poem  and  many  a striking  tragedy.  To  the  south 
lay  the  pointed  peaks  of  Helicon — a mountain  (or 
mountain  chain)  full  of  sweetness  and  light,  with 
many  silver  streams  coursing  down  its  sides  to  water 
the  Boeotian  plains,  and  with  its  dells,  the  home  of 
the  Muses  ever  since  they  inspired  the  bard  of  Ascra 
— the  home,  too,  of  Eros,  who  long  after  the  reality 
of  the  faith  had  decayed,  was  honored  in  Thespise 
by  the  crowds  of  visitors  who  went  up  to  see  the 
famous  statue  of  the  god  by  Praxiteles.  This 
Helicon  separates  Boeotia  from  the  southern  sea, 
but  does  not  close  up  completely  with  Cithseron, 
leaving  way  for  an  army  coming  from  the  isthmus, 
where  Leuctra  stood  to  guard  the  entrance.  Over 
against  us,  on  the  west,  lay,  piled  against  one 
another,  the  dark  wild  mountains  of  Phocis,  with 
the  giant  Parnassus  raising  its  snow-clad  shoulders 
above  the  rest.  But,  in  the  far  distance,  the  snowy 
Corax  of  iEtolia  stood  out  in  rivalry,  and  showed 
us  that  Parnassus  is  but  the  advanced  guard  of  the 
wild  alpine  country,  which  even  in  Greece  proved 
too  rugged  a nurse  for  culture. 

We  made  our  descent  at  full  gallop  down  the 
windings  of  the  road — a most  risky  drive ; but  the 
coachman  was  daring  and  impatient,  and  we  felt,  in 
spite  of  the  danger,  that  peculiar  delight  which 
accompanies  the  excitement  of  going  at  headlong 
pace.  We  had  previously  an  even  more  perilous 


FKOM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


231 


experience  in  coming  down  the  steep  and  tortuous 
descent  from  the  Laurium  mines  to  Ergasteria  in 
the  train,  where  the  sharp  turns  were  apparently 
full  of  serious  risk.  Above  our  heads  were  wheel- 
ing great  vultures — huge  birds,  almost  black,  with 
lean,  featherless  heads — which  added  to  the  wildness 
of  the  scene.  After  this  rapid  journey  we  came 
upon  the  site  of  Platsea,  marked  by  a modern  village 
of  the  name,  on  our  left,  and  below  us  we  saw  the 
winding  Asopus,  and  the  great  scene  of  one  of  the 
most  famous  of  all  Greek  battles — the  battle  of 
Platsea.  This  little  town  is  situated  much  higher 
up  the  mountain  than  I had  thought,  and  a glance 
showed  us  its  invaluable  position  as  an  outpost  of 
Athenian  power  toward  Boeotia.  With  the  top  of 
the  pass  within  an  hour’s  walk,  the  Platseans  could, 
from  their  streets,  see  every  movement  over  the 
Theban  plain : they  could  see  an  invasion  from  the 
south  coming  up  by  Leuctra ; they  could  see  troops 
marching  northward  toward  Tanagra  and  Gmophyta. 
They  could  even  see  into  the  Theban  Cadmea,  which 
lay  far  below  them,  and  then  telegraph  from  the  top 
of  the  pass  to  Eleutherse,  and  from  thence  to  Athens. 
We  can,  therefore,  understand  at  once  Platsea’s 
importance  to  Athens,  and  why  the  Athenians  built 
a strong  fortified  post  on  their  very  frontier,  within 
easy  reach  of  it. 

All  the  site  of  the  great  battle  is  well  marked  and 
well  known — the  fountain  Gargaphia,  the  so-called 


232 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


island,  and  the  Asopus,  flowing  lazily  in  a deep-cut 
sedgy  channel,  in  most  places  far  too  deep  to  ford. 
Over  our  heads  were  still  circling  the  great  black 
vultures ; but,  as  we  neared  the  plain,  we  flashed 
a large  black-and-white  eagle,  which  we  had  not 
seen  in  Attica.  There  is  some  cultivation  between 
Platsea  and  Thebes,  but  strangely  alternating  with 
wilderness.  We  were  told  that  the  people  have 
plenty  of  spare  land,  and,  not  caring  to  labor  for 
its  artificial  improvement,  till  a piece  of  ground 
once,  and  then  let  it  lie  fallow  for  a season  or  two. 
The  natural  richness  of  the  Boeotian  soil  thus  sup- 
plies them  with  ample  crops.  But  we  wondered  to 
think  how  impossible  it  seems  even  in  these  rich  and 
favored  plains  to  induce  a fuller  population. 

The  question  of  the  depopulation  of  Greece  is 
no  new  one — it  is  not  due  to  the  Slav  inroads — it  is 
not  due  to  Turkish  misrule.  As  soon  as  the  political 
liberties  of  Greece  vanished,  so  that  the  national 
talent  found  no  scope  in  local  government — as  soon 
as  the  riches  of  Asia  were  opened  to  Greek  enter- 
prise— the  population  diminished  with  wonderful 
rapidity.  All  the  later  Greek  historians  and  travel- 
lers are  agreed  about  the  fact.1  u The  whole  of 
Greece  could  not  put  in  the  field,”  says  one,  u as 
many  soldiers  as  came  of  old  from  a single  city.” 
u Of  all  the  famous  cities  of  Boeotia,”  says  another, 

1 Cf.  what  I have  said  in  relation  to  Polybius’s  account  of  it  in 
my  Greek  Life  and  Thought,  pp.  534  s<j. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


233 


u but  two — Thespise  and  Tanagra — now  remain.” 
The  rest  are  mostly  described  as  ruins  ( ipstma :). 
No  doubt,  every  young  enterprising  fellow  went  off 
to  Asia  as  a soldier  or  a merchant ; and  this  taste  for 
emigrating  has  remained  strong  in  the  race  till  the 
present  day,  when  most  of  the  business  of  Constanti- 
nople, of  Smyrna,  and  of  Alexandria  is  in  the  hands 
of  Greeks.  But,  in  addition  to  this,  the  race  itself 
seems  at  a certain  period  to  have  become  less  pro- 
lific ; and  this,  too,  is  a remarkable  feature  lasting  to 
our  own  time.  In  the  several  hospitable  houses  in 
which  I was  entertained  through  the  country  I 
sought  in  vain  for  children.  The  young  married 
ladies  had  their  mothers  to  keep  them  company,  and 
this  was  a common  habit ; the  daughter  does  not 
willingly  separate  from  her  mother.  But,  whether 
by  curious  coincidence  or  not,  the  absence  of  chil- 
dren in  these  seven  or  eight  houses  was  very  remark- 
able. I have  been  since  assured  that  this  was  an 
accident,  and  that  large  families  are  very  common  in 
Greece.  The  statistics  show  a considerable  increase 
of  population  of  late  years.1 

The  evening  saw  us  entering  into  Thebes — the 
town  which,  beyond  all  others,  retains  the  smallest 
vestiges  of  antiquity.  Even  the  site  of  the  Cadmea 
is  not  easily  distinguishable.  Two  or  three  hillocks 
in  and  about  the  town  are  all  equally  insignificant, 

1 Cf.,  for  example,  the  figures  in  the  recent  (1891)  Guide 
Joanne , ii.  xxxvi. 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


234 

and  all  equally  suitable,  one  should  think,  for  a fort- 
ress. The  discovery  of  the  old  foundations  of  the 
walls  has,  however,  determined  the  matter,  and 
settled  the  site  to  be  that  of  the  highest  part  of  the 
present  town.  'Its  strength,  which  was  celebrated, 
must  have  been  due  nearly  altogether  to  artificial 
fortification,  for  though  the  old  city  was  in  a deeper 
valley  to  the  north-west,  yet  from  the  other  side 
there  can  never  have  been  any  ascent  steep  enough 
to  be  a natural  rampart.  The  old  city  was,  no 
doubt,  always  more  renowned  for  eating  and  drink- 
ing than  for  art  or  architecture,1  and  its  momentary 
supremacy  under  Epaminondas  was  too  busy  and  too 
short  a season  to  be  employed  in  such  pursuits.  But, 
besides  all  this,  and  besides  all  the  ruin  of  Alex- 
ander’s fury,  the  place  has  been  visited  several  times 
with  the  most  destructive  earthquakes,  from  the  last 
of  which  (in  1852)  it  had  not  recovered  when  I first 
saw  it.  There  were  still  through  the  streets  houses 
torn  open,  and  walls  shaken  down ; there  were  gaps 
made  by  ruins,  and  half-restored  shops. 

The  antiquities  of  Thebes  consist  of  a few  in- 
scribed slabs  and  fragments  which  are  (as  usual)  col- 
lected in  a dark  outhouse,  where  it  is  not  easy  to 
make  them  out.  I was  not  at  the  trouble  of  reading 

1 There  was,  indeed,  a splendid  pleasaunce  built  at  Thebes  by 
the  Frankish  knights,  which  was  completely  destroyed  by  the 
grand  Catalan  company.  It  is  described  by  their  annalist  Ramon 
Muntaner.  The  remains  of  one  Frankish  tower  mark  the  place. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


235 


these  inscriptions,  for  in  this  department  the  anti- 
quarians of  the  University  of  Athens  are  really  very 
zealous  and  competent,  and  I doubt  whether  any  in- 
scription now  discovered  fails  to  come  into  the  Greek 
papers  within  a few  months.  From  these  they  of 
course  pass  into  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Grcccarum , 
a collection  daily  increasing,  and  periodically  re- 
edited.  I may  observe  that,  not  only  for  manners 
and  customs,  but  even  for  history,  these  undeniable 
and  seldom  suspicious  sources  are  rapidly  becoming 
our  surest  and  even  fullest  authority. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  inhabitants,  by  far  the  most 
important  thing  about  the  town  is  the  tomb  of  their 
Evangelist  S.  Luke,  which  is  situated  in  a chapel 
close  by.  The  stone  is  polished  and  worn  with  the 
feet  and  lips  of  pilgrims,  and  all  such  homes  of  long 
devotion  are  in  themselves  interesting ; but  the  vis- 
itor may  well  wonder  that  the  Evangelist  should 
have  his  tomb  established  in  a place  so  absolutely 
decayed  and  depopulated  as  was  the  region  of  Thebes, 
even  in  his  day.  The  tombs  of  the  early  preachers 
and  missionaries  are  more  likely  to  be  in  the  thick- 
est of  thoroughfares,  amid  the  noise  and  strife  of 
men.  The  Evangelist  was  confused  with  a later 
local  saint  of  the  same  name.1 

Thebes  is  remarkable  for  its  excellent  supply  of 
water.  Apart  from  the  fountain  Dirke,2  several 

1 See  his  life  in  Gregorovius’s  Athen , vol.  i.  pp.  144  sq. 

2 The  legend  of  the  name  is  now  fully  explained  in  the  frag- 


236 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


other  great  springs  rise  in  the  higher  ground  close  to 
it,  and  are  led  by  old  Greek  conduits  of  marble  to 
the  town.  One  of  these  springs  was  large  enough 
to  allow  us  to  bathe — a most  refreshing  change  after 
the  long  and  hot  carriage  drive,  especially  in  the  ice- 
cold  water,  as  it  came  from  its  deep  hiding-place. 
We  returned  at  eight  in  the  evening  to  dine  with  our 
excellent  host — a host  provided  for  us  by  telegraph 
from  Athens — where  we  had  ample  opportunity 
of  noticing  some  of  the  peculiarities  of  modern 
Greek  life. 

The  general  elections  were  at  the  moment  pend- 
ing. M.  Boulgaris  had  just  echoue , as  the  French 
say ; and  the  King,  after  a crisis  in  which  a rupture 
of  the  Constitution  had  been  expected,  decided  to 
try  a constitutional  experiment,  and  called  to  office 
M.  Trikoupi,  an  advanced  Radical  in  those  days, 
and  strongly  opposed  to  the  Government.  But  M. 
Trikoupi  was  a highly  educated  and  reasonable  man, 
well  acquainted  with  England  and  English  politics, 
and  apparently  anxious  to  govern  by  strictly  consti- 
tutional means.  He  has  since  proved  himself,  by  his 
able  and  vigorous  administration,  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  statesmen  in  Europe,  and  the  main  cause 
of  the  progress  of  his  country.  His  recent  defeat 
(1890)  is  therefore  to  be  regarded  as  a national  mis- 
fortune. Our  new  friend  at  Thebes  was  then  the 

ments  of  the  Antiope  published  by  me  in  the  Petrie  papyri  (Wil- 
liams & Norgate,  1891). 


FKOM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


237 


Radical  candidate,  and  was  at  the  very  time  of  our 
arrival  canvassing  his  constituency.  Every  idle  fel- 
low in  the  town  seemed  to  think  it  his  duty  to  come 
up  into  his  drawing-room,  in  which  we  were  resting, 
and  sit  down  to  encourage  him  and  advise  him.  No 
hint  that  he  was  engaged  in  entertaining  strangers 
had  the  smallest  effect : noisy  politics  was  inflicted 
upon  us  till  the  welcome  announcement  of  dinner,  to 
which,  for  a wonder,  his  constituents  did  not  follow  him. 
He  told  me  that  though  all  the  country  was  strongly 
in  favor  of  M.  Trikoupi,  yet  he  could  hardly  count 
upon  a majority  with  certainty,  for  he  had  deter- 
mined to  let  the  elections  follow  their  own  course, 
and  not  control  them  with  soldiers.  In  this  most 
constitutional  country,  with  its  freedom,  as  usual, 
closely  imitated  from  England,  soldiers  stood,  at 
least  up  to  the  summer  of  1875,  round  the  booths, 
and  hustled  out  any  one  who  did  not  come  to  vote 
for  the  Ministerial  candidate.  M.  Trikoupi  refused 
to  take  this  traditional  precaution,  and,  as  the  result 
showed,  lost  his  sure  majority. 

But  when  I was  there,  and  before  the  actual  elec- 
tions had  taken  place,  the  Radical  party  were  very 
confident.  They  were  not  only  to  come  in  triumph- 
ant, but  their  first  act  was  to  be  the  prosecution  of 
the  late  Prime  Minister,  M.  Boulgaris,  for  violating 
the  Constitution,  and  his  condemnation  to  hard  labor, 
with  confiscation  of  his  property.  I used  to  plead 
the  poor  man’s  case  earnestly  with  these  hot-headed 


238 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


politicians,  by  way  of  amusement,  and  was  highly 
edified  by  their  arguments.  The  ladies,  as  usual, 
were  by  far  the  fiercest,  and  were  ready,  like  their 
goddess  of  old,  to  eat  the  raw  flesh  of  their  enemies. 
I used  to  ask  them  whether  it  would  not  be  quite 
out  of  taste  if  Mr.  Disraeli,  then  in  power,  were  to 
prosecute  Mr.  Gladstone  for  violating  the  Constitu- 
tion in  his  Irish  Church  Act,  and  have  him  con- 
demned to  hard  labor.  The  cases,  they  replied, 
were  quite  different.  No  Englishman  could  ever 
attain,  or  even  understand,  the  rascality  of  the  late 
Greek  Minister.  Feeling  that  there  might  be  some 
force  in  this  argument,  I changed  ground,  and  asked 
them  were  they  not  afraid  that  if  he  were  persecuted 
in  so  violent  a way  he  might,  instead  of  occupying 
the  Opposition  benches,  betake  himself  to  occupy 
the  mountain  passes,  and,  by  robbing  a few  English 
travellers,  so  discredit  the  new  Government  as  to  be 
worse  and  more  dangerous  in  opposition  than  in 
power.  No,  they  said,  he  will  not  do  that ; he  is 
too  rich.  But,  said  I,  if  you  confiscate  his  property, 
he  will  be  poor.  True,  they  replied  ; but  still  he 
will  not  be  able  to  do  it : he  is  too  old.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  idea  that  he  might  be  too  respectable  never 
crossed  their  minds.1  What  was  my  surprise  to 

1 I trust  none  will  imagine  that  T intend  the  least  disrespect  to 
M.  Boulgaris,  who  was,  according  to  far  better  authority  than  that 
quoted  in  the  text,  an  honorable  and  estimable  man.  But  some  of 
his  Ministers  have  been  since  convicted  of  malpractices  concerning 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


239 


hear  within  six  months  that  this  dreadful  culprit  had 
come  into  power  again  at  the  head  of  a considerable 
majority  ! 

We  were  afterward  informed  by  a sarcastic  ob- 
server that  many  of  the  Greek  politicians  are 
paupers,  u who  will  not  dig,  and  to  beg  they  are 
ashamed and  so  they  sit  about  the  cafes  of  Athens 
on  the  look-out  for  one  of  the  10,000  places  which 
have  been  devised  for  the  patronage  of  the  Ministry. 
But,  as  there  are  some  30,000  expectants,  it  follows 
that  the  20,000  disappointed  are  always  at  work  seek- 
ing to  turn  out  the  10,000.  Hence  a crisis  every 
three  months  j hence  a Greek  ambassador  could 
hardly  reach  his  destination  before  he  was  recalled ; 
hence,  too,  the  exodus  of  all  thrifty  and  hard-work- 
ing men  to  Smyrna,  to  Alexandria,  or  to  Manchester, 
where  their  energies  were  not  wasted  in  perpetual 
political  squabbling.  The  greatest  misconduct  with 
which  a man  in  office  could  be  charged  was  the  hold- 
ing of  it  for  any  length  of  time  ; the  whole  public  then 
join  against  him,  and  cry  out  that  it  is  high  time  for 
himy  after  so  long  an  innings,  to  make  way  for  some 
one  else.  It  was  not  till  M.  Trikoupi  established  his 
ascendency  that  this  ridiculous  condition  of  things 
ceased.  Whether  in  office  or  in  opposition,  he  has  a 
policy,  and  retains  the  confidence  of  foreign  powers. 

I had  added,  in  the  first  edition  of  this  book,  some 

certain  archbishoprics,  which  were  bought  for  money.  The  trial  is 
now  a matter  of  history,  to  which  an  allusion  is  sufficient. 


240 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


further  observations  on  the  apparent  absurdity  of 
introducing  the  British  Constitution,  or  some  parody 
of  it,  into  every  new  state  which  is  rescued  from 
barbarism  or  from  despotism.  I am  not  the  least  dis- 
posed to  retract  what  I then  said  generally,  but  it  is 
common  justice  to  the  Greeks  to  say  that  later  events 
are  showing  them  to  be  among  the  few  nations 
where  such  an  experiment  may  succeed.  When  the 
dangerous  crisis  of  the  Turco-Kussian  war  super- 
vened, instead  of  rushing  to  arms,  as  they  were 
advised  by  some  fanatical  English  politicians,  they 
set  about  to  reform  their  Ministry ; and,  feeling  the 
danger  of  perpetually  changing  the  men  at  the  helm, 
they  insisted  on  the  heads  of  the  four  principal 
parties  forming  a coalition,  under  the  nominal  leader- 
ship of  M.  Canaris.1  This  great  political  move,  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  of  our  day,  was  attempted, 
as  far  as  I can  make  out,  owing  to  the  deliberate 
pressure  of  the  country,  and  from  a solid  interest  in 
its  welfare.  Even  though  temporary  in  the  present 
case,  it  was  an  earnest  that  the  Greeks  are  learning 
national  politics,  and  that  a liberal  constitution  is  not 
wasted  upon  them.  There  are  many  far  more  de- 
veloped and  important  nations  in  Europe  which 

1 Since  that  time,  the  chief  power  has  for  the  most  part  been  in 
the  hands  of  M.  Trikoupi,  an  honest  patriot.  Yet  it  was  the. mis- 
fortune of  the  country  to  be  reduced  bv  M.  Delvanni  to  the  verge 
of  bankruptcy  through  his  absurd  war  policy  against  Turkey.  It 
is  probable  enough  that  he  did  not  lead,  but  was  carried  along  by 
this  policy,  with  which  all  the  Athenian  “Jingoes”  were  possessed. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES.  241 

would  not  be  capable  of  such  a sacrifice  of  party 
interests  and  party  ambition. 

We  left  Thebes,  very  glad  that  we  had  seen  it, 
but  not  very  curious  to  see  it  again.  Its  site  makes 
it  obviously  the  natural  capital  of  the  rich  plain 
around  it ; and  we  can  also  see  at  once  how  the 
larger  and  richer  plain  of  Orchomenus  is  separated 
from  it  by  a distinct  saddle  of  rising  ground,  and 
was  naturally,  in  old  times,  the  seat  of  a separate 
power.  But  the  separation  between  the  two  dis- 
tricts, which  is  not  even  so  steep  or  well  marked  as 
the  easy  pass  of  Daphne  between  Athens  and  Eleu- 
sis,  makes  it  also  clear  that  the  owners  of  either 
plain  would  certainly  cast  the  eye  of  desire  upon  the 
possessions  of  their  neighbors,  and  so  at  an  early 
epoch  Orchomenus  was  subdued.  For  many  reasons 
this  may  have  been  a disaster  to  Greece.  The 
Minyse  of  Orchomenus,  as  people  called  the  old 
nobles  who  settled  there  in  prehistoric  days,  were 
a great  and  rich  society,  building  forts  and  treasure- 
houses,  and  celebrated,  even  in  Homer’s  day,  for 
wealth  and  splendor. 

But,  perhaps  owing  to  this  very  luxury,  they  wer.e 
subdued  by  the  inartistic,  vulgar  Thebans,  who,  dur- 
ing centuries  of  power  and  importance,  never  rose  to 
greatness  save  through  the  transcendent  genius  of 
Pindar  and  of  Epaminondas.  No  real  greatness 
ever  attached  to  their  town.  When  people  came 
from  a distance  to  see  art  in  Boeotia,  they  came  to 
16 


242 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


little  Thespise,  in  the  southern  hills,  where  the  Eros 
of  Praxiteles  was  the  pride  of  the  citizens.  Tanagra, 
too,  in  the  terra  cottas  of  which  I have  spoken  (above, 
p.  59),  shows  taste  and  refinement ; and  we  still  look 
with  sympathy  upon  the  strangely  modern  fashions 
of  these  graceful  and  elegant  figures.  At  Thebes, 
so  far  as  I know,  no  trace  of  fine  arts  has  yet  been 
discovered.  The  great  substructure  of  the  Cadmea, 
the  solid  marble  water-pipes  of  their  conduits,  a few 
inscriptions — that  is  all.  It  corroborates  what  we 
find  in  the  middle  and  new  comedy  of  the  Greeks, 
that  Thebes  was  a place  for  eating  and  drinking,  a 
place  for  other  coarse  material  comforts — but  no 
place  for  real  culture  or  for  art.  Even  their  great 
poet,  Pindar,  a poet  in  whom  most  critics  find  all 
the  highest  qualities  of  genius — loftiness,  daring, 
originality — even  this  great  man — no  doubt  from 
the  accidents  of  his  age — worked  by  the  job,  and 
bargained  for  the  payment  of  his  noblest  odes. 

Thus,  even  in  Pindar,  there  is  something  to  re- 
mind us  of  his  Theban  vulgarity  ; and  it  is,  there- 
fore, all  the  more  wonderful,  and  all  the  more  freely 
to  be  confessed,  that  in  Epaminondas  we  find  not  a 
single  flaw  or  failing,  and  that  he  stands  out  as  far 
the  noblest  of  all  the  great  men  whom  Greece  ever 
produced.  It  were  possible  to  maintain  that  he  was 
also  the  greatest,  but  this  is  a matter  of  opinion  and 
of  argument.  Certain  it  is  that  his  influence  made 
Thebes,  for  the  moment,  not  only  the  leader  in  Greek 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


243 


politics,  but  the  leader  in  Greek  society.  Those  of 
his  friends  whom  we  know  seem  not  only  patriots, 
biit  gentlemen — they  cultivated  with  him  music  and 
eloquence,  nor  did  they  despise  philosophy.  So 
true  is  it,  that  in  this  wonderful  peninsula  genius 
seemed  possible  everywhere,  and  that  from  the 
least  cultivated  and  most  vulgar  town  might  arise 
a man  to  make  all  the  world  about  him  admire  and 
tremble. 

I will  make  but  one  more  remark  about  this  plain 
of  Roeotia.  There  is  no  part  of  Greece  so  sadly 
famed  for  all  the  battles  with  which  its  soil  was 
stained.  The  ancients  called  it  Mars’s  Orchestra , or 
exercising  ground ; and  even  now,  when  all  the  old 
life  is  gone,  and  when  not  a hovel  remains  to  mark 
the  site  of  once  well-built  towns,  we  may  indeed  ask, 
why  were  these  towns  celebrated  ? Simply  because 
in  old  Greek  history  their  names  served  to  specify 
a scene  of  slaughter,  where  a campaign,  or  it  may 
be  an  empire,  was  lost  or  won.  Platsea,  Leuctra, 
Haliartus,  Coronea,  Chaeronea,  Delium,  GEnophyta, 
Tanagra — these  are  in  history  the  landmarks  of  bat- 
tles, and,  with  one  exception,  landmarks  of  nothing 
more.  Thebes  is  mainly  the  nurse  of  the  warriors 
who  fought  in  these  battles,  and  but  little  else.  So, 
then,  we  cannot  compare  Roeotia  to  the  rich  plains 
of  Lombardy — they,  too,  in  their  day,  ay,  and  in 
our  own  day,  Mars’s  Orchestra — for  here  literature 
and  art  have  given  fame  to  cities,  while  the  battles 


244 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


fought  around  their  walls  have  been  forgotten  by  the 
world. 

I confess  we  saw  nothing  of  the  foggy  atmosphere 
so  often  brought  up  against  the  climate  of  Boeotia. 
And  yet  it  was  then,  of  course,  more  foggy  than  it 
had  been  of  old,  for  then  the  lake  Copais  was 
drained,  whereas  in  1875  the  old  tunnels,  cut,  or 
rather  enlarged,  by  the  Minya3,  were  choked,  and 
thousands  of  acres  of  the  richest  land  covered  with 
marsh  and  lake.  It  was  M.  Trikoupi  who  pro- 
moted the  plan  of  a French  Company  to  drain  the 
lake  more  completely  than  even  the  old  Catabothra 
had  done,  and,  at  the  cost  of  less  than  one  million 
sterling,  to  bring  into  permanent  cultivation  some 
thousands  of  acres — in  fact,  the  largest  and  richest 
plain  in  all  Greece.  I asked  him  where  he  meant 
to  find  a population  to  till  it,  seeing  that  the  present 
land  was  about  ten  times  more  than  sufficient  for  the 
inhabitants.  He  told  me  that  some  Greek  colonists, 
who  had  settled  in  the  north,  under  the  Turks  or 
Servians  (I  forget  which),  were  desirous  of  returning 
to  enjoy  the  sweets  of  Hellenic  liberty.  It  w.as  pro- 
posed to  give  them  the  reclaimed  tract.  If  these 
good  people  will  reason  from  analogy,  they  will  be 
slow  to  trust  their  fortunes  to  their  old  fellow-coun- 
trymen. So  long  as  they  are  indigent  they  will  be 
unmolested — cantabit  vacuus  coram  latrone  viator — 
but  as  soon  as  they  prosper,  or  arc  supposed  to  pros- 
per, we  might  have  the  affair  of  Laurium  repeated. 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


245 


The  natives  might  be  up  in  arms  against  the  stran- 
gers who  had  come  to  plunder  the  land  of  the  wealth 
intended  by  nature  for  others.  The  Greek  Parlia- 
ment might  be  persuaded  to  make  retrospective  laws 
and  restrictions,  and  probably  all  the  more  active 
and  impatient  spirits  would  leave  a country  where 
prosperity  implied  persecution,  and  where  people 
only  awake  to  the  value  of  their  possessions  after 
they  have  sold  them  to  others. 

What  is  now  happening  illustrates  the  views  which 
I long  since  proposed.  When  the  drainage  works, 
completed  in  1887,  had  uncovered  rich  tracts,  the 
Government  laid  claim  to  every  acre  of  it,  and  en- 
deavored to  fence  off  the  old  riparian  proprietors. 
They  on  their  side  disputed  the  new  boundaries, 
and  claimed  what  the  Government  professed  to 
have  uncovered.  Hence  no  sale  to  new  owners 
is  as  yet  possible.  The  dispute  is  still  (1891)  un- 
settled. 

I think  jealousy  no  accidental  feature,  but  one 
specially  engrained  in  the  texture  of  Greek  nature 
from  the  earliest  times.  Nothing  can  be  a more 
striking  or  cogent  proof  of  this  than  the  way  in 
which  Herodotus  sets  down  jealousy  as  one  of  the 
attributes  of  the  Deity.  For  the  Deities  of  all 
nations  being  conceptions  formed  after  the  analogy 
of  human  nature  around  them,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  honest  historian  put  it  down  as  a 
necessary  factor  in  the  course  and  constitution  of 


246 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


nature.  We  can  only  understand  Greek  history 
by  keeping  these  things  perpetually  in  mind,  and 
even  now  it  explains  the  apparent  anomaly,  how  a 
nation  so  essentially  democratic — who  recognize  no 
nobility  and  no  distinctions  of  rank — can  be  satisfied 
with  a king  of  foreign  race.  They  told  me  them- 
selves, over  and  over  again,  that  the  simple  reason 
was  this : no  Greek  could  tolerate  another  set  over 
him,  so  that  even  such  an  office  as  President  of  a 
Greek  Republic  would  be  intolerable,  if  held  by  one 
of  themselves.  And  this  same  feeling  in  old  times 
is  the  real  reason  of  the  deadly  hate  manifested 
against  the  most  moderate  and  humane  despots. 
However  able,  however  kindly,  however  great  such 
a despot  might  be  ; however  the  state  might  prosper 
under  him,  one  thing  in  him  was  intolerable- — he  had 
no  natural  right  to  be  superior  to  his  fellows,  and 
yet  he  was  superior.  I will  not  deny  the  existence 
of  political  enthusiasm,  and  of  real  patriotism  among 
Greek  tyrannicides,  but  I am  quite  sure  that  the 
universal  sympathy  of  the  nation  with  them  was 
partly  based  upon  this  deep-seated  feeling. 

It  is  said  that,  in  another  curious  respect,  the  old 
and  modern  Greeks  are  very  similar — I mean  the 
form  which  bribery  takes  in  their  political  struggles. 
It  has  been  already  observed  and  discussed  by  Mr. 
Freeman,  how,  among  the  old  Greeks,  it  was  the 
politician  who  was  bribed,  and  not  the  constituents ; 
whereas  among  us  in  Kngland  the  leading  politicians 


FROM  ATHENS  TO  THEBES. 


247 


are  above  suspicion,  while  the  constituents  are  often 
corruptible  enough.  Our  Theban  friend  told  me 
that  in  modern  Greece  the  ancient  form  of  bribery 
was  still  in  fashion ; and  that,  except  in  Hydra  and 
one  other  place — probably,  if  I remember  rightly, 
Athens — the  bribing  of  constituents  was  unknown  ; 
while  the  taking  of  bribes  by  Ministers  was  alleged 
not  to  be  very  uncommon.  A few  years  ago,  men 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  Cabinet  Ministers 
were  openly  brought  into  court,  and  indicted  for  the 
sale  of  three  archbishoprics,  those  of  Patras  and 
Corinth  among  the  number.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
this  public  charge  points  to  a sort  of  bribery  likely 
to  take  place  in  any  real  democracy,  when  the 
men  at  the  head  of  affairs  are  not  men  of  great 
wealth  and  noble  birth,  but  often  ordinary,  or  even 
needy  persons,  selected  by  ballot,  or  popular  vote, 
to  fill  for  a very  short  time  a very  influential  office. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


THE  PLAIN  OF  ORCHOMENUS,  LIVADIA,  CH^ERONEA. 

The  road  from  Thebes  to  Lebadea  (Livadia)  leads 
along  the  foot  of  Helicon  all  the  way — Helicon, 
which,  like  all  celebrated  Greek  mountains,  is  not  a 
summit,  but  a system  of  summits,  or  even  a chain. 
Looking  in  the  morning  from  the  plain,  the  contrast 
of  the  dark  Cithseron  and  the  gentle  sunny  Helicon 
strikes  the  traveller  again  and  again.  After  the 
ridge,  or  saddle,  is  passed  which  separates  the  plain 
of  Thebes  from  that  of  Orchomenus,  the  richness  of 
the  soil  increases,  but  the  land  becomes  very  swampy 
and  low,  for  at  every  half-mile  comes  a clear  silver 
river,  tumbling  from  the  slopes  of  Helicon  on  our 
left,  crossing  the  road,  and  flowing  to  swell  the 
waters  of  Lake  Copais — a vast  sheet  with  undefined 
edges,  half-marsh,  half-lake — which  for  centuries 
had  no  outlet  to  the  sea,  and  which  was  only  kept 
from  covering  all  the  plain  by  evaporation  in  the 
heats  of  summer.  Great  fields  of  sedge  and  rushes, 
giant  reeds,  and  marsh  plants  unknown  in  colder 
countries,  mark  each  river  course  as  it  nears  the 
lake ; and,  as  might  be  expected  in  this  lonely  fen 
country,  all  manner  of  insect  life  and  all  manner  of 
248 


PLAIN  OF  ORCHOMENUS. 


249 


amphibia  haunt  the  sites  of  ancient  culture.  In- 
numerable dragon-flies,  of  the  most  brilliant  colors, 
were  flitting  about  the  reeds,  and  lighting  on  the 
rich  blades  of  grass  which  lay  on  the  water’s  sur- 
face ; and  now  and  then  a daring  frog  would  charge 
boldly  at  so  great  a prize,  but  retire  again  in  fear 
when  the  fierce  insect  dashed  against  him  in  its  im- 
petuous start.  Large  land  tortoises,  with  their 
high-arched  shells,  yellow  and  brown,  and  patterned 
like  the  section  of  a great  honeycomb,  went  lazily 
along  the  moist  banks,  and  close  by  the  water,  which 
they  could  not  bear  to  touch.  Their  aquatic 
cousins,  on  the  other  hand,  were  not  solitary  in 
habit,  but  lay  in  lines  along  the  sun-baked  mud,  and 
at  the  first  approach  of  danger  dropped  into  the 
water  one  after  the  other  with  successive  flops,  look- 
ing for  all  the  world  a long  row  of  smooth  black 
pebbles  which  had  suddenly  come  to  life,  like  old 
Deucalion’s  clods,  that  they  might  people  this  soli- 
tude. The  sleepy  and  unmeaning  faces  of  these 
tortoises  were  a great  contrast  to  those  of  the  water- 
snakes,  which  were  very  like  them  in  form,  but 
wonderfully  keen  and  lively  in  expression.  They, 
too,  would  glide  into  the  water  when  so  strange  a 
thing  as  man  came  near,  but  would  presently  raise 
their  heads  above  the  surface,  and  eye  with  wonder 
and  suspicion,  and  in  perfect  stillness,  the  approach 
of  their  natural  enemy.  The  Copaic  eels,  so  cele- 
brated in  the  Attic  comedy  as  the  greatest  of  all 


250 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


dainties,  are  also  still  to  be  caught ; but  the  bright 
sun  and  cloudless  sky  made  vain  all  my  attempts  to 
lure  this  famous  darling  of  Greek  epicures.  We 
noticed  that  while  the  shrill  cicada,  which  frequents 
dry  places,  was  not  common  here,  great  emerald- 
green  grasshoppers  were  flying  about  spasmodically, 
with  a sound  and  weight  like  that  of  a small  bird. 

As  we  passed  along,  we  were  shown  the  sites  of 
Haliartus  and  Coronea — Haliartus,  where  the  cruel 
Lysander  met  his  death  in  a skirmish,  and  so  gave  a 
place  in  history  to  an  obscure  village — Coronea, 
where  the  Spartans  first  learned  to  taste  the  temper 
of  the  Theban  infantry,  and  where  King  Agesilaus 
well-nigh  preceded  his  great  rival  to  the  funeral 
pyre.  As  I said  before,  all  these  towns  are  only 
known  by  battles.  Thespise  has  an  independent  in- 
terest, and  so  has  Ascra.  The  latter  was  the  resi- 
dence of  the  earliest  known  Greek  poet  of  whose 
personality  we  can  be  sure ; Thespise,  with  its 
highly  aristocratic  society,  which  would  not  let  a 
shopkeeper  walk  their  place  of  assembly  for  ten 
years  after  he  had  retired  from  business,  was  the  site 
of  fair  temples  and  statues,  and  held  its  place  and 
fame  long  after  all  the  rest  of  the  surrounding  cities 
had  sunk  into  decay.  There  are  indistinct  remains 
of  surrounding  walls  about  both  Haliartus  and  Cor- 
onea, but  surely  nothing  that  would  repay  the  labor 
of  excavations.  All  these  Boeotian  towns  were,  of 
course,  fortified,  and  all  of  them  lay  close  to  the 


LIVADIA. 


251 


hills $ for  the  swampy  plain  was  unhealthy,  and  in 
older  days  the  rising  lake  was  said  to  have  swal- 
lowed up  towns  which  had  been  built  close  upon  its 
margin.  But  the  supremacy  of  Orchomenus  in 
older,  and  Thebes  in  later  days,  never  allowed  these 
subject  towns  to  attain  any  importance  or  any  politi- 
cal significance. 

After  some  hours’  riding,  we  suddenly  came  upon 
a deep  vista  in  the  mountains  on  our  left — such 
another  vista  as  there  is  behind  Coronea,  but  nar- 
rower, and  inclosed  on  both  sides  with  great  and 
steep  mountains.  And  here  we  found  the  cause  of 
the  cultivation  of  the  upper  plain — here  was  the 
town  of  Lebadea  (Livddia),  famed  of  old  for  the 
august  oracle  of  Trophonius — in  later  days  the 
Turkish  capital  of  the  province  surrounding.  To 
this  the  roads  of  all  the  neighborhood  converge, 
and  from  this  a small  force  can  easily  command  the 
deep  gorges  and  high  mountain  passes  which  lead 
through  Delphi  to  the  port  of  Kirrha.  Even  now 
there  is  more  life  in  Liv£dia  than  in  most  Greek 
towns.  All  the  wool  of  the  country  is  brought  in 
and  sold  there,  and,  with  the  aid  of  their  great 
water  power,  they  have  a considerable  factory, 
where  the  wool  is  spun  and  woven  into  stuff.  A 
large  and  beautifully  clear  river  comes  down  the 
gorge  above  the  town — or  rather  the  gorge  in  which 
the  town  lies — and  tumbles  in  great  falls  between  the 
streets  and  under  the  houses,  which  have  wooden 


252 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


balconies,  like  Swiss  chalets,  built  over  the  stream. 
The  whole  aspect  of  the  town  was  not  unlike  a Swiss 
town  ; indeed,  all  the  features  of  the  upland  country 
are  ever  reminding  the  traveller  of  his  Swiss  ex- 
perience. 

But  the  people  are  widely  different.  It  was  a 
great  saint’s  day,  and  all  the  streets  were  crowded 
with  people  from  many  miles  round.  As  we  noted  in 
all  Greek  towns,  except  Arachova,  the  women  were 
not  to  be  seen  in  any  numbers.  They  do  not  walk 
about  the  streets  except  for  some  special  ceremony 
or  amusement.  But  no  women’s  costume  is  required 
to  lend  brightness  to  the  coloring  of  the  scene ; for 
here  every  man  had  his  fustanclla  or  kilt  of  dazzling 
white,  his  gray  or  puce  embroidered  waistcoat,  his 
great  white  sleeves,  and  his  scarlet  skull-cap,  with 
its  blue  tassel.  Nothing  can  be  imagined  brighter 
than  a dense  crowd  in  this  dress.  They  were  all 
much  excited  at  the  arrival  of  strangers,  and 
crowded  around  us  without  the  least  idea  or  care 
about  being  thought  obtrusive.  The  simple  Greek 
peasant  thinks  it  his  right  to  make  aloud  what  ob- 
servations he  chooses  upon  any  stranger,  and  has 
not  the  smallest  idea  of  the  politeness  of  reticence 
on  such  occasions. 

We  were  received  most  hospitably  by  the  medical 
officer  of  the  district,  who  had  an  amiable  young 
wife,  speaking  Greek  only,  and  a lively  old  mother- 
in-law,  living,  as  usual,  permanently  in  the  house, 


LTV  ADI  A. 


253 


to  prevent  the  young  lady  from  being  lonely.  Like 
all  the  richer  Greeks  in  country  parts,  they  ate 
nothing  till  twelve,  when  they  had  a sort  of  early 
dinner  called  breakfast,  and  then  dined  again  at 
half-past  eight  in  the  evening.  This  arrangement 
gave  us  more  than  enough  time  to  look  about  the 
town  when  our  day’s  ride  was  over ; so  we  went, 
first  of  all,  to  see  the  site  of  Trophonius’s  oracle. 

As  the  gorge  becomes  narrower,  there  is,  on  the 
right  side,  a small  cave,  from  which  a sacred  stream 
flows  to  join  the  larger  river.  Here  numerous  square 
panels  cut  into  the  rock  to  hold  votive  tablets,  now 
gone,  indicate  a sacred  place,  to  which  pilgrims  came 
to  offer  prayers  for  aid,  and  thanksgiving  for  success. 
The  actual  seat  of  the  oracle  is  not  certain,  and  is 
supposed  to  be  some  cave  or  aperture  now  covered 
by  the  Turkish  fort  on  the  rock  immediately  above  • 
but  the  whole  glen,  with  its  beetling  sides,  its  rush- 
ing river,  and  its  cavernous  vaulting,  seems  the  very 
home  and  preserve  of  superstition.  We  followed 
the  windings  of  the  defile,  jumping  from  rock  to 
rock  up  the  river  bed,  and  were  soon  able  to  bathe 
beyond  the  observation  of  all  the  crowding  boys, 
who,  like  the  boys  of  any  other  town,  could  not 
satisfy  their  curiosity  at  strangeness  of  face  and 
costume.  As  we  went  on  for  some  miles,  the 
country  began  to  open,  and  to  show  us  a bleak  and 
solitary  mountain  region,  where  the  chains  of  Heli- 
con and  Parnassus  join,  and  shut  out  the  sea  of 


254 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Corinth  from  Boeotia  by  a great  bar  some  thirty 
miles  wide.  Not  a sound  could  be  heard  in  this 
wild  loneliness,  save  the  metallic  pipe  of  a water 
ouzel  by  the  river,  and  the  scream  of  hawks  about 
their  nests,  far  up  on  the  face  of  the  cliffs. 

As  the  evening  was  closing  in  we  began  to  retrace 
our  steps,  when  we  saw  in  two  or  three  places  scarlet 
caps  over  the  rocks,  and  swarthy  faces  peering  down 
upon  us  with  signs  and  shouts.  Though  nothing 
could  have  been  more  suspicious  in  such  a country, 
I cannot  say  that  we  felt  the  least  uneasiness,  and 
we  continued  our  way  without  regarding  them. 
They  kept  watching  us  from  the  heights,  and  when 
at  last  we  descended  nearer  to  the  town,  they  came 
and  made  signs,  and  spoke  very  new  Greek,  to  the 
effect  that  they  had  been  out  scouring  the  country 
for  us,  and  that  they  had  been  very  uneasy  about 
our  safety.  This  was  indeed  the  case ; our  excellent 
Greek  companion,  who  felt  responsible  to  the  Greek 
Government  for  our  safety,  and  who  had  stayed  be- 
hind in  Liv&dia  to  make  arrangements,  had  become 
so  uneasy  that  he  had  sent  out  the  police  to  scour 
the  country.  So  we  were  brought  in  with  triumph 
by  a large  escort  of  idlers  and  officials,  and  presently 
sat  down  to  dinner  at  the  fashionable  hour,  though  in 
anything  but  fashionable  dress.  The  entertainment 
would  have  been  as  excellent  as  even  the  intentions 
of  our  host,  had  not  our  attention  been  foolishly  dis- 
tracted by  bugs  walking  up  the  table-cloth.  It  is, 


LIVADIA. 


255 


indeed,  but  a small  and  ignoble  insect,  yet  it  pro- 
duces a wonderful  effect  upon  the  mind  5 for  it 
inspires  the  most  ordinary  man  with  the  gift  of 
prophecy : it  carries  him  away  even  from  the 
pleasures  of  a fair  repast  into  the  hours  of  night 
and  mystery,  when  all  his  wisdom  and  all  his  might 
will  not  save  him  from  the  persistent  skirmishing 
of  his  irreconcilable  foe. 

It  may  be  here  worth  giving  a word  of  encourage- 
ment to  the  sensitive  student  whom  these  hints  are 
apt  to  deter  from  venturing  into  the  wilds  of  Greece. 
In  spite  of  frequent  starvation,  both  for  want  of  food 
and  for  want  of  eatable  food ; in  spite  of  frequent 
sleeplessness  and  even  severe  exercise  at  night,  owing 
to  the  excess  of  insect  population  ; 1 such  is  the  light- 
ness and  clearness  of  the  air,  such  the  exhilarating 
effect  of  great  natural  beauty,  and  of  solitary  wander- 
ing, free  and  unshackled,  across  the  wild  tracts  of 
valley,  wood,  and  mountain,  that  fatigue  is  an  almost 
impossible  feeling.  Eight  or  ten  hours’  riding  every 
day,  which  in  other  country  and  other  air  would 
have  been  almost  unendurable,  was  here  but  the 
natural  exercise  which  any  ordinary  man  may  con- 
veniently take.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  dis- 

1 This  plague  seems  unavoidable  in  a southern  climate,  wherever 
the  houses,  however  good,  are  built  of  wood,  and  does  not  imply 
any  ungrateful  reflection  upon  my  refined  and  generous  hosts.  In 
the  Morea,  where  houses  are  built  of  masonry,  even  badly-kept 
houses  are  comparatively  safe. 


256 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


comforts  of  Greek  travelling  are  very  great,  but 
with  good  temper  and  patience  they  can  all  be 
borne ; and  when  they  are  over  they  form  a pleasant 
feature  in  the  recollections  of  a glorious  time.  Be- 
sides, these  discomforts  are  only  the  really  classical 
mode  of  travelling.  Dionysus,  in  Aristophanes’s 
Frogs , asks,  especially  about  the  inns,  the  very 
questions  which  we  often  put  to  our  guide ; and  if 
his  slave  carried  for  him  not  only  ordinary  baggage, 
but  also  his  bed  and  bedding,  so  nowadays  there 
are  many  khans  (inns)  where  the  traveller  cannot  lie 
down — I was  going  to  say  to  rest — except  on  his 
own  rugs. 

The  next  day  was  occupied  in  a tour  across  the 
plain  to  Orchomenus,  then  to  Chseronea,  and  back 
to  Livadia  in  the  evening,  so  as  to  start  from  thence 
for  the  passes  to  Delphi.  Our  ride  was,  as  it  were, 
round  an  isosceles  triangle,  beginning  with  the  right 
base  angle,  going  to  Orchomenus  north-east  as  the 
vertex,  then  to  Chseronea  at  the  left  base  angle,  and 
home  again  over  the  high  spurs  of  mountain  which 
protrude  into  the  plain  between  the  two  base  angles 
of  our  triangle.  For  about  a mile,  as  we  rode  out 
of  Livadia,  a wretched  road  of  little  rough  paving- 
stones  tormented  us — the  remains  of  Turkish  engi- 
neering, when  Livadia  was  their  capital.  Patches 
of  this  work  are  still  to  be  found  in  curious  isolation 
over  the  mountains,  to  the  great  distress  of  both 
mules  and  riders ; for  the  stones  are  very  small  and 


ORCHOMENUS. 


257 


pointed,  or,  where  they  have  been  worn  smooth, 
exceedingly  slippery.  But  we  soon  got  away  into 
deep  rich  meadows  upon  the  low  level  of  the  country 
adjoining  the  lake,  where  we  found  again  the  same 
infinitely  various  insect  life  which  I have  already 
described.  A bright  merry  Greek  boy,  in  full  dress 
(for  it  was  again  a holiday),  followed  in  attendance 
on  each  mule  or  pony,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
picturesque  than  the  cavalcade,  going  in  Indian  file 
through  the  long  grass,  among  the  gay  wild  flowers, 
especially  when  some  creek  or  rivulet  made  our 
course  to  wind  about,  and  so  brought  the  long  line 
of  figures  into  more  varied  grouping.  As  for  the 
weather,  it  was  so  uniformly  splendid  that  we  almost 
forgot  to  notice  it.  Indeed,  strangers  justly  remark 
what  large  conversation  it  affords  us  in  Ireland,  for 
there  it  is  a matter  of  constant  uncertainty,  and  re- 
quires forethought  and  conjecture.  During  my  first 
journey  in  Greece,  in  the  months  of  April,  May,  and 
June,  there  was  nothing  to  be  said,  except  that  we 
saw  one  heavy  shower  at  Athens,  and  two  hours’ 
rain  in  Arcadia,  and  that  the  temperature  was  not 
excessively  hot.  I have  had  similar  experiences  in 
March  and  April  during  three  other  sojourns  in  the 
country. 

In  two  or  three  hours  we  arrived  at  the  site  of 
old  Orchomenus,  of  late  called  Scripou,  but  now 
reverting,  like  all  Greek  towns,  to  its  original  name. 
There  is  a mere  hamlet,  some  dozen  houses,  at  the 
17 


258 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


place,  which  is  close  to  the  stone  bridge  built  over 
the  Kephissus — the  Boeotian  Kephissus — at  this 
place.  This  river  appears  to  be  the  main  feeder 
of  the  Copaic  lake,  coming  down,  as  we  saw  it, 
muddy  and  cold  with  snow-water  from  the  heights 
of  Parnassus.  It  runs  very  rapidly,  like  the  Iser  at 
Munich,  and  is  at  Orchomenus  about  double  the  size 
of  that  river.  Of  the  so-called  treasure-house  of 
the  Minyse,  nothing  remains  but  the  stone  doorposts 
and  the  huge  block  lying  across  them  j and  even 
these  are  almost  imbedded  in  earth.  It  was  the 
most  disappointing  ruin  I had  seen  in  Greece,  for  it 
is  always  quoted  with  the  treasure-house  of  Atreus 
at  Mycenae  as  one  of  the  great  specimens  of  pre- 
historic building.  It  is  not  so  interesting  in  any 
sense  as  the  corresponding  raths  in  Ireland.  Indeed, 
but  for  Pausanias’s  description,  it  would,  I think, 
have  excited  but  little  attention. 

The  subsequent  excavation  of  it  by  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann  yielded  but  poor  results.  The  building  had 
fallen  in  but  a few  years  ago.  A handsome  ceil- 
ing pattern,  to  which  a curious  parallel  was  after- 
ward found  at  Tiryns,  and  some  pottery,  was  all  that 
rewarded  the  explorer. 

On  the  hill  above  are  the  well-preserved  remains 
of  the  small  Acropolis,  of  which  the  stones  are  so 
carefully  cut  that  it  looks  at  first  sight  modern,  then 
too  good  for  modern  work,  but  in  no  case  polygonal, 
as  are  the  walls  of  the  hill  city  which  it  protected. 


ORCHOMENUS. 


259 


There  is  a remarkable  tower  built  on  the  highest 
point  of  the  hill,  with  a very  perfect  staircase  up  to 
it.  The  whole  of  the  work  is  very  like  the  work 
of  Eleutherae,  and  seems  to  be  of  the  best  period  of 
Greek  wall-building.  Nothing  surprises  the  traveller 
in  Greece  more  than  the  number  of  these  splendid 
hill-forts,  or  town-fortresses,  which  are  never  noticed 
by  the  historians  as  anything  remarkable — in  fact, 
the  art  and  the  habit  of  fortifying  must  have  been 
so  universal  that  it  excited  no  comment.  This 
strikes  us  all  the  more  when  so  reticent  a writer 
as  Thucydides,  who  seldom  gives  us  anything  but 
war  or  politics,  goes  out  of  his  way  to  describe  the 
wall- building  of  the  Peiraeus.  He  evidently  con- 
trasts it  with  the  hurried  and  irregular  construction 
of  the  city  walls,  into  which  even  tombstones  were 
built ; but  if  we  did  not  study  the  remains  still  com- 
mon in  Greece,  we  might  imagine  that  the  use  of 
square  hewn  stones,  the  absence  of  mortar  and  rub- 
ble, and  the  clamping  with  lead  and  iron  were  ex- 
ceptional, whereas  that  sort  of  building  is  the  most 
usual  sort  in  Greece.  The  walls  of  the  Peiraeus 
cannot  even  have  been  the  earliest  specimen,  for 
the  great  portal  at  Mycenae,  though  somewhat 
rougher  and  more  huge  in  execution,  is  on  the 
same  principle.  The  only  peculiarity  of  these  walls 
may  have  been  their  height  and  width,  and  upon 
that  point  it  is  not  easy  to  get  any  monumental  evi- 
dence now.  The  walls  of  the  Peiraeus  have  disap- 


260 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


peared  completely,  though  the  foundations  are  still 
traceable ; others  have  stood,  but  perhaps  on  account 
of  their  lesser  height. 

In  a large  and  hospitable  monastery  we  found  the 
well  which  Pausanias  describes  as  close  beside  the 
shrine  of  the  Graces,  and  here  we  partook  of  break- 
fast, attended  by  our  muleteers,  who  always  accom- 
pany their  employer  into  the  reception-room  of  his 
host,  and  look  on  at  meat,  ready  to  attend,  and 
always  joining  if  possible  in  the  conversation  at 
table.  Some  excellent  specimens  of  old  Greek  pot- 
tery were  shown  us  in  the  monastery,  apparently, 
though  not  ostensibly,  for  sale,  there  being  a law 
prohibiting  the  sale  of  antiquities  to  foreigners,  or 
for  exportation.  In  their  chapel  the  monks  pointed 
out  to  us  some  fragments  of  marble  pillars,  and  one 
or  two  inscriptions — in  which  I was  since  informed 
that  I might  have  found  a real  live  digamma,  if  I 
had  carefully  examined  them.  The  digamma  is 
now  common  enough  at  Olympia  and  elsewhere.  I 
saw  it  best,  along  with  the  Icoph,  which  is,  I suppose, 
much  rarer,  in  the  splendid  bronze  plates  containing 
Locrian  inscriptions,  which  are  in  the  possession  of 
Mr.  Taylor’s  heirs  at  Corfu.  These  plates  have 
been  ably  commented  on,  with  facsimile  drawings 
of  the  inscriptions,  by  a Greek  writer,  G.  N.  Ecno- 
mides  (Corfu,  1850,  and  Athens,  1869). 

It  was  on  our  way  up  the  valley  to  Chseronea, 
along  the  rapid  stream  of  the  Kephissus,  that  we 


PLAIN  OF  ORCHOMENUS. 


261 


came,  in  a little  deserted  church,  upon  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  extant  specimens  of  a peculiar 
epoch  in  Greek  art.  As  usual,  it  was  set  up  in  the 
dark,  and  we  were  repeatedly  obliged  to  entreat  the 
natives  to  clear  the  door,  through  which  alone  we 
could  obtain  any  light  to  see  the  work.  It  is  a fun- 
eral stele , not  unlike  the  celebrated  stele  and  its  re- 
lief at  Athens,  which  is  inscribed  as  the  stele  of 
Aristion,  and  dates  from  the  time  of  the  Persian 
wars.  The  work  before  us  was  inscribed  as  the 
work  of  Anxenor  the  Naxian — an  artist  otherwise 
unknown  to  us ; but  the  style  and  finish  are  very 
remarkable,  and  more  perfect  than  the  stele  of  Aris- 
tion. It  is  a relief  carved  on  an  upright  slab  of  gray 
Boeotian  marble — I should  say  about  four  feet  in 
height — and  representing  a bearded  man  wrapped  in 
a cloak,  resting  on  a long  stick  propped  under  his 
arm,1  with  his  legs  awkwardly  crossed,  and  offering 
a large  grasshopper  to  a dog  sitting  before  him.  The 
hair  and  beard  are  conventionally  curled,  the  whole 
effect  being  very  like  an  Assyrian  relief ; but  this  is 
the  case  with  all  the  older  Greek  sculpture,  which 
may  have  started  in  Ionia  by  an  impulse  from  the  far 
east.  The  occurrence  of  the  dog,  a feature  which 
strikes  us  frequently  in  the  later  Attic  tombs,  sup- 
ports what  I had  long  since  inferred  from  stray  hints 
in  Greek  literature,  that  dogs  among  the  old  Greeks, 
1 Cf.  Polygnotus’s  picture  of  Agamemnon  (Paus.  x.  30,  3), 

ourjiTTpu)  re  vi to  Ttjv  apiorepav  pact Epetdo/LlEVOg, 


262 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


as  well  as  the  modern,  were  held  in  the  highest  es- 
teem as  the  friends  and  companions  of  man.  This 
curious  monument  of  early  Greek  art  was  lying  hidden 
in  an  obscure  and  out-of-the-way  corner  of  Greece ; 
isolated,  too,  and  with  little  of  antiquarian  interest  in 
its  immediate  neighborhood.1  On  my  second  visit 
(1884),  I found  a cast  of  it  in  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction  at  Athens.  On  my  third  I found  the 
original  removed  to  a prominent  place  in  the  Na- 
tional Museum  at  Athens,  where  the  traveller  may 
now  study  it  at  his  ease. 

The  great  value  of  these  reliefs  consists  (apart 
from  their  artistic  value)  in  their  undoubted  genuine- 
ness. For  we  know  that  in  later  days,  both  in 
Greece  and  Italy,  a sort  of  pre-Raphaelite  taste 
sprang  up  among  amateurs,  who  admired  and  pre- 
ferred the  stiff  awkward  groping  after  nature  to  the 
symmetry  and  grace  of  perfect  art.  Pausanias,  for 
example,  speaks  with  enthusiasm  of  these  antique 
statues  and  carvings,  and  generally  mentions  them 
first,  as  of  most  importance.  Thus,  after  describing 
various  archaic  works  on  the  Acropolis  of  Athens, 
he  adds,  u But  whoever  places  works  made  with 
artistic  skill  before  those  which  come  under  the  des- 
ignation of  archaic,  may,  if  he  likes,  admire  the 

1 Since  these  words  were  written,  M.  Holleaux’s  researches  at 
Akraephiae  have  not  only  discovered  the  inscription  containing  the 
Emperor  Nero’s  speech  to  the  Greeks,  but  also  many  curious  re- 
mains from  the  temple  of  Apollo  Ptoos. 


PLAIN  OF  ORCHOMENUS. 


263 


following.”1  As  a natural  result,  a fashion  came  in 
of  imitating  them,  and  we  have,  especially  in  Italy, 
many  statues  in  this  style  which  seem  certainly  to 
be  modern  imitations,  and  not  even  Greek  copies  of 
old  Greek  originals  But  these  imitations  are  so 
well  done,  and  so  equalized  by  lapse  of  centuries 
with  the  real  antiques,  that  though  there  are  scholars 
who  profess  to  distinguish  infallibly  the  archaistic , as 
they  call  it,  from  the  archaic,  it  is  sometimes  a very 
difficult  task,  and  about  many  of  them  there  is  doubt 
and  debate. 

But  here  at  Orchomenus — a country  which  was  so 
decayed  as  to  lose  almost  all  its  population  two  cen- 
turies before  Christ,  where  no  amateurs  of  art  would 
stay,  and  where  Plutarch  was,  as  it  were,  the  last 
remains  in  his  town  of  literature  and  respectability 
— here  there  is  no  danger  whatever  of  finding  this 
spurious  work ; and  thus  here,  as  indeed  all  through 
Greece,  archaic  work  is  thoroughly  trustworthy. 
But  the  unfortunate  law  of  the  land  not  often  vio- 
lated, as  in  this  case — which  insists  upon  all  these 
relics,  however  isolated,  being  kept  in  their  place  of 
finding — is  the  mightiest  obstacle  to  the  study  of 
this  interesting  phase  of  culture,  and  we  must  await 
the  completion  of  the  Hellenic  Society’s  gallery  of 
photographs,  from  which  we  can  make  reliable  ob- 
servations. The  Greeks  will  tell  you  that  the  pres- 

1 bang  de  ra  avv  texvV  7r£7r ow/fieva  krr'nrpoade  riderai  ruv  kg  ap^aio- 
T)~a  T/KOVTO)Vy  KCU  TfiJ-E  EGTIV  01  dcaoaodat.  I.  24.  3. 


264 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ervation  of  antiquities  in  their  original  place,  first  of 
all,  gives  the  inhabitants  an  interest  in  them,  which 
might  be  true  but  that  there  are  very  often  no  in- 
habitants : and  next,  that  it  encourages  travelling  in 
the  country.  This  also  is  true  ; but  surely  the  mak- 
ing of  decent  roads,  and  the  establishing  of  decent 
inns,  and  easy  communications,  would  do  infinitely 
more,  and  are  indeed  necessary,  before  the  second 
stimulus  can  have  its  effect. 

Not  far  from  this  little  church  and  its  famous  re- 
lief, we  came  in  sight  of  the  Acropolis  (called  Pet- 
rachus)  of  Chseronea,  and  soon  arrived  at  the  town, 
so  celebrated  through  all  antiquity,  in  spite  of  its 
moderate  size.  The  fort  on  the  rock  is,  indeed, 
very  large — perhaps  the  largest  we  saw  in  Greece, 
with  the  exception  of  that  at  Corinth ; and,  as  usual 
in  these  buildings,  follows  the  steepest  escarpments, 
raising  the  natural  precipice  by  a coping  of  beauti- 
fully hewn  and  fitted  square  stones.  The  artificial 
wall  is  now  not  more  than  four  or  five  feet  high ; but 
even  so,  there  are  only  two  or  three  places  where  it 
is  at  all  easy  to  enter  the  inclosure,  which  is  fully  a 
mile  of  straggling  outline  on  the  rock.  The  view 
from  this  fort  is  very  interesting.  Commanding  all 
the  plain  of  the  lake  Copais,  it  also  gives  a view  of 
the  sides  of  Parnassus,  and  of  the  passes  into  Phocis, 
which  cannot  be  seen  till  the  traveller  reaches  this 
point.  Above  all,  it  looks  out  upon  the  gap  of 
Elatea,  about  ten  miles  north-west,  through  which 


CH^ERONEA. 


265 


the  eye  catches  glimpses  of  secluded  valleys  in 
northern  Phocis. 

This  gap  is,  indeed,  the  true  key  of  this  side  of 
Bceotia,  and  is  no  mere  mountain  pass,  but  a narrow 
plain,  perhaps  a mile  wide,  which  must  have  afforded 
an  easy  transit  for  an  army.  But  the  mountains  on 
both  sides  are  tolerably  steep,  and  so  it  was  necessary 
to  have  a fortified  town,  as  Elatea  was,  to  keep  the 
command  of  the  place.  As  we  gazed  through  the 
narrow  plain,  the  famous  passage  of  Demosthenes 
came  home  to  us,  which  begins : u It  was  evening, 
and  the  news  came  in  that  Philip  had  seized,  and 
was  fortifying  Elatea.”  The  nearest  point  of  ob- 
servation or  of  control  was  the  rock  of  Chseronea, 
and  we  may  say  with  certainty  that  it  was  from  here 
the  first  breathless  messenger  set  out  with  the  terrible 
news  for  Thebes  and  Athens.  This,  too,  was  evi- 
dently the  pass  through  which  Agesilaus  came  on 
his  return  from  Asia,  and  on  his  way  to  Coronea, 
where  his  great  battle  was  fought,  close  by  the  older 
trophy  of  the  Theban  victory  over  Tolmides.1 

Having  surveyed  the  view,  and  fatigued  ourselves 
greatly  by  our  climb  in  the  summer  heat,  we  de- 
scended to  the  old  theatre,  cut  into  the  rock  where 
it  ascends  from  the  village — the  smallest  and  steep- 
est Greek  theatre  I had  ever  seen.  Open-air  build- 
ings always  look  small  for  their  size,  but  most  of 
those  erected  by  the  Greeks  and  Romans  were  so 
1 Cf.  Plut.  Agesilaus,  chap.  xvii. 


266 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


large  that  nothing  could  dwarf  them.  Even  the 
theatre  of  such  a town  as  Taormina  in  Sicily — 
which  can  never  have  been  populous — is,  in  addi- 
tion to  its  enchanting  site,  a very  majestic  structure ; 
I will  not  speak  of  the  immense  theatres  of  Mega- 
lopolis and  of  Syracuse.  But  this  little  place  at 
Chseronea,  so  steep  that  the  spectators  sat  immedi- 
ately over  one  another,  looked  almost  amusing  when 
cut  in  the  solid  rock,  after  the  manner  of  its  enor- 
mous brethren.  The  guide-book  says  it  is  one  of 
the  most  ancient  theatres  in  Greece — why,  I know 
not.  It  seems  to  me  rather  to  have  been  made  when 
the  population  was  diminishing ; and  any  rudeness 
which  it  shows  arises  more  from  economy,  than  want 
of  experience. 

But,  small  as  it  is,  there  are  few  more  interesting 
places  than  the  only  spot  in  Chseronea  where  we  can 
say  with  certainty  that  here  Plutarch  sat — a man 
who,  living  in  an  age  of  decadence,  and  in  a country 
village  of  no  importance,  has,  nevertheless,  as  much 
as  any  of  his  countrymen,  made  his  genius  felt  over 
all  the  world.  Apart  from  the  great  stores  of  his- 
tory brought  together  in  his  Lives , which,  indeed, 
are  frequently  our  only  source  for  the  inner  life  and 
spirit  of  the  greatest  Greeks  of  the  greatest  epochs 
— the  moral  effect  of  these  splendid  biographies, 
both  on  poets  and  politicians  through  Europe,  can 
hardly  be  overrated.  From  Shakespeare  and  Al- 
fieri  to  the  wild  savages  of  the  French  Revolution, 


CH^RONEA. 


267 


all  kinds  of  patriots  and  eager  spirits  have  been 
fascinated  and  excited  by  these  wonderful  portraits. 
Alfieri  even  speaks  of  them  as  the  great  discovery 
of  his  life,  which  he  read  with  tears  and  with  rage. 
There  is  no  writer  of  the  Silver  Age  who  gives  us 
anything  like  so  much  valuable  information  about 
early  authors,  and  their  general  character.  More 
especially  the  inner  history  of  Athens  in  her  best 
days,  the  personal  features  of  Pericles,  Cimon, 
Alcibiades,  Nicias,  as  well  as  of  Themistocles  and 
of  Aristides,  would  be  completely,  or  almost  com- 
pletely, lost,  if  this  often  despised  but  invaluable 
man  had  not  written  for  our  learning.  And  he  is 
still  more  essentially  a good  man — a man  better  and 
purer  than  most  Greeks — another  Herodotus  in  fair- 
ness and  in  honesty.  A poor  man  reputed  by  his 
neighbors  “ a terrible  historian,”  remarked  to  a 
friend  of  mine,  who  used  to  lend  him  Scott’s  novels, 
“ that  Scott  was  a great  historian,”  and  being  asked 
his  reason,  replied,  u He  makes  you  to  love  your 
kind.”  There  is  a deep  significance  in  this  vague 
utterance,  in  which  it  may  be  eminently  applied  to 
Plutarch.  u Here  in  Chseronea,”  says  Pausanias, 
“they  prepare  unguents  from  the  flowers  of  the 
lily  and  the  rose,  the  narcissus  and  the  iris.  These 
are  balm  for  the  pains  of  men.  Nay,  that  which  is 
made  of  roses,  if  old  wooden  images  are  anointed 
with  it,  saves  them,  too,  from  decay.”  He  little 
knew  how  eternally  true  his  words  would  be,  for 


268 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


though  the  rose  and  the  iris  grow  wild  and  neglected 
and  yield  not  now  their  perfume  to  soothe  the  ills  of 
men,  yet  from  Chseronea  comes  the  eternal  balm 
of  Plutarch’s  wisdom,  to  sustain  the  oppressed,  to 
strengthen  the  patriot,  to  purify  with  nobler  pity 
and  terror  the  dross  of  human  meanness.  Nay, 
even  the  crumbling  images  of  his  gods  arrest  their 
decay  by  the  spirit  of  his  morals,  and  revive  their 
beauty  in  the  sweetness  of  his  simple  faith. 

There  is  a rich  supply  of  water,  bursting  from  a 
beautiful  old  Greek  fountain,  near  the  theatre — 
indeed,  the  water  supply  all  over  this  country  is 
excellent.  There  is  also  an  old  marble  throne  in 
the  church,  about  which  they  have  many  legends, 
but  no  history.  The  costume  of  the  girls,  whom  we 
saw  working  in  small  irrigated  plots  near  the  houses, 
was  beautiful  beyond  that  in  other  Greek  towns. 
They  wore  splendid  necklaces  of  gold  and  silver 
coins,  which  lay  like  corselets  of  chain  mail  on  the 
neck  and  breast  ; and  the  dull  but  rich  embroidery 
of  wool  on  their  aprons  and  bodices  was  quite  be- 
yond what  we  could  describe,  but  not  beyond  our 
highest  appreciation. 

As  the  day  was  waning,  we  were  obliged  to  leave 
this  most  interesting  place,  and  set  off  again  on  our 
ride  home  to  Lebadea.  We  had  not  gone  a mile 
from  the  town  when  we  came  upon  the  most  pathetic 
and  striking  of  all  the  remains  in  that  country — the 
famous  lion  of  Chseronea,  which  the  Thebans  set  up 


CHiERONEA. 


269 


to  their  countrymen  who  had  fallen  in  the  great 
battle  against  Philip  of  Macedon,  in  the  year  338 
B.  c.  We  had  been  looking  out  for  this  monument, 
and  on  our  way  to  Chseronea,  seeing  a lofty  mound 
in  the  plain,  rode  up  to  it  eagerly,  hoping  to  find  the 
lion.  But  we  were  disappointed,  and  were  told  that 
the  history  of  this  larger  mound  was  completely  un- 
known. It  evidently  commemorates  some  battle, 
and  is  a mound  over  the  dead,  but  whether  those 
slain  by  Sylla,  or  those  with  Tolmides,  or  those  of 
some  far  older  conflict,  no  man  can  say.  It  seems, 
however,  perfectly  undisturbed,  and  grown  about 
with  deep  weeds  and  brushwood,  so  that  a hardy 
excavator  might  find  it  worth  opening,  and,  perhaps, 
coins  might  tell  us  of  its  age. 

The  mound  where  we  found  the  lion  was  much 
humbler  and  smaller ; in  fact,  hardly  a mound  at  all, 
but  a rising  knoll,  with  its  centre  hollowed  out,  and 
in  the  hollow  the  broken  pieces  of  the  famous  lion. 
It  had  sunk,  we  are  told,  into  its  mound  of  earth, 
originally  intended  to  raise  it  above  the  road  beside, 
and  lay  there  in  perfect  safety  till  the  present  cen- 
tury, when  four  English  travellers  claim  to  have 
discovered  it  (June  3,  1818).  They  tried  to  get  it 
removed,  and,  failing  in  their  efforts,  covered  up  the 
pieces  carefully.1  Since  that  time  they  seem  to  have 

1 An  account  of  the  discovery,  by  the  only  surviving  member 
of  the  party,  Mr.  G.  L.  Taylor,  has  been  published  by  Mr.  W.  S. 
Yaux  in  the  Trans,  of  the  Roy.  Soc.  of  Lit.,  2nd  series,  vol.  viii.  pp. 


270 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


lain  undisturbed,  and  are  still  in  such  a state  that  a 
few  days’  labor,  and  a few  pounds  of  expense,  would 
restore  the  work.  It  is  of  bluish-gray  stone — they 
call  it  Boeotian  marble  or  limestone — and  is  a work 
of  the  highest  and  purest  merit.  The  lion  is  of  that 
Asiatic  type  which  has  little  or  no  mane,  and  seemed 
to  us  couchant  or  sitting  in  attitude,  with  the  head 
not  lowered  to  the  forepaws,  but  thrown  up.1  The 
expression  of  the  face  is  ideally  perfect — rage,  grief, 
and  shame  are  expressed  in  it,  together  with  that 

1,  sqq.  The  latter  gentleman  called  attention  to  his  paper  when 
the  subject  was  being  discussed  in  the  Academy  in  1877.  A very 
different  story  was  told  to  Colonel  Mure,  and  has  passed  from  his 
Travels  into  Murray’s  Guide.  The  current  belief  among  the 
Greeks  seems  still  to  be  that  a Greek  patriot  called  Odysseus, 
perceiving  the  stone  protruding  from  the  clay,  and,  on  striking  it, 
hearing  its  hollow  ring,  dug  it  out  and  broke  it  in  pieces,  imagin- 
ing it  to  be  a record  of  Philip’s  victory  over  Hellenic  liberty. 
Some  ill-natured  people  added  that  he  hoped  to  find  treasure 
within  it. 

1 Mr.  Taylor  and  his  friends  thought  it  must  have  stood  in  the 
attitude  of  the  now  abolished  lion  on  Northumberland  House. 
This  did  not  appear  so  to  us;  but  it  is  difficult  to  decide.  Ihe 
restoration  by  Siegel  in  the  Mon.  of  the  Soc.  Arch,  of  Rome,  for 
1856,  of  which  Mr.  A.  S.  Murray  most  kindly  sent  me  a drawing, 
makes  the  posture  a sitting  one,  like  that  of  the  sitting  lion  in 
front  of  the  Arsenal  at  Venice.  There  is  a small  sitting  lion  from 
Calymnse,  of  the  same  posture,  in  the  Brit.  Museum.  The  Greeks, 
when  my  account  was  first  published  in  their  papers,  became  fully 
alive  to  the  value  of  this  monument,  and  anxious  for  its  restora- 
tion. There  had  been  a custodian  appointed  to  watch  over  it,  even 
when  I was  there,  but  he  chanced  to  be  absent  when  we  paid  our 
visit. 


CH^ERONEA. 


271 


noble  calmness  and  moderation  which  characterize 
all  good  Greek  art.  The  object  of  the  monument  is 
quite  plain,  without  reading  the  affecting,  though 
simple,  notice  of  Pausanias : u On  the  approach  to 
the  city,”  says  he,  u is  the  tomb  of  the  Boeotians 
who  fell  in  the  battle  with  Philip.  It  has  no  in- 
scription 5 but  the  image  of  a lion  is  placed  upon 
it  as  an  emblem  of  the  spirit  of  these  men.  The 
inscription  has  been  omitted — I suppose,  because 
the  gods  had  willed  that  their  fortune  should  not  be 
equal  to  their  valor.”  So,  then,  we  have  here,  in 
what  may  fairly  be  called  a dated  record,  one  of  the 
finest  specimens  of  the  sepulchral  monuments  of  the 
best  age  of  Greece.  It  is  very  much  to  be  regretted 
that  this  splendid  figure  is  not  put  together  and 
photographed.  Nothing  would  be  more  instructive 
than  a comparison  with  the  finest  of  modern  monu- 
ments— Thorwaldsen’s  Lion  at  Lucerne — the  work, 
too,  of  the  only  modern  sculptor  who  can  for  one 
moment  be  ranked  beside  the  ancient  Greeks.  * But 
the  lion  of  Chseronea  now  owes  its  existence  to  the 
accident  that  no  neighboring  peasant  has  in  old  times 
lacked  stones  for  a wall,  or  for  a ditch ; and  when 
Greece  awoke  to  a sense  of  the  preciousness  of  these 
things,  it  might  have  been  gone,  or  dashed  into  use- 
less fragments. 

As  we  saw  it,  on  a splendid  afternoon  in  June,  it 
lay  in  perfect  repose  and  oblivion,  the  fragments 
large  enough  to  tell  the  contour  and  the  style : in 


272 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  mouth  of  the  upturned  head  wild  bees  were 
busy  at  their  work,  and  the  honeycomb  was  there 
between  its  teeth.  The  Hebrew  story  came  fresh 
upon  us,  and  we  longed  for  the  strength  which  tore 
the  lion  of  old,  to  gather  the  limbs  and  heal  the  rents 
of  his  marble  fellow.  The  lion  of  Samson  was  a 
riddle  to  the  Philistines  which  they  could  not  solve ; 
and  so  I suppose  this  lion  of  Chseronea  was  a riddle, 
too — a deeper  riddle  to  better  men — why  the  patriot 
should  fall  before  the  despot,  and  the  culture  of 
Greece  before  the  Csesarism  of  Macedonia.  Even 
within  Greece  there  is  no  want  of  remarkable  paral- 
lels. This,  the  last  effulgence  of  the  setting  sun  of 
Greek  liberty,  was  commemorated  by  a lion  and  a 
mound,  as  the  opening  struggle  at  Marathon  was 
also  marked  by  a lion  and  a mound.  At  Marathon 
the  mound  is  there  and  the  lion  gone — at  Chseronea, 
the  lion  is  there  and  the  mound  gone.1  But  doubt- 
less the  earlier  lion  was  far  inferior  in  expression 
and  in  beauty,  and  was  a small  object  on  so  large  a 
tomb.  Later  men  made  the  sepulchre  itself  of  less 
importance,  and  the  poetic  element  more  prominent ; 
and  perhaps  this  very  fact  tells  the  secret  of  their 

1 Since  these  words  were  written,  the  labors  of  the  Greek 
archaeologists  have  discovered  the  great  polyandnon , or  common 
tomb  of  the  dead,  which  the  lion  commemorated.  They  lay  in 
rows,  many  of  them  with  broken  bones,  showing  how  they  had 
received  their  death-wound,  and  with  them  were  fragments  of 
broken  weapons.  Never  have  we  come  closer  to  an  ancient  battle, 
or  discovered  more  affecting  records  of  a great  struggle. 


CHiERONEA. 


273 


failure,  and  why  the  refined  sculptor  of  the  lion  was 
no  equal  in  politics  and  war  to  the  rude  carver  of 
the  relief  of  the  Marathonian  warrior. 

These  and  such  like  thoughts  throng  the  mind  of 
him  who  sits  beside  the  solitary  tomb ; and  it  may 
be  said  in  favor  of  its  remoteness  and  difficulty  of 
access,  that  in  solitude  there  is  at  least  peace  and 
leisure,  and  the  scattered  objects  of  interest  are 
scanned  with  affection  and  with  care. 

18 


CHAPTER  X. 

ARACHOVA DELPHI THE  BAY  OP  KIRRHA. 

The  pilgrim  who  went  of  old  from  Athens  to  the 
shrine  of  Delphi,  to  consult  the  august  oracle  on 
some  great  difficulty  in  his  own  life,  or  some 
great  danger  to  his  country,  saw  before  him  the 
giant  Parnassus  as  his  goal,  as  soon  as  he  reached 
the  passes  of  Cithseron.  For  two  or  three  days  he 
went  across  Boeotia  with  this  great  landmark  before 
him,  but  it  was  not  till  he  reached  Lebadea  that  he 
found  himself  leaving  level  roads,  and  entering 
defiles,  where  great  cliffs  and  narrow  glens  gave  to 
his  mind  a tone  of  superstition  and  of  awe  which 
ever  dwelt  around  that  wild  and  dangerous  country. 
Starting  from  Lebadea,  or,  by  another  road,  from 
Chseronea,  he  must  go  about  half-way  round  Par- 
nassus, from  its  east  to  its  south-west  aspect ; and 
this  can  only  be  done  by  threading  his  way  along 
torrents  and  precipices,  mounting  steep  ascents,  and 
descending  into  wild  glens.  This  journey  among 
the  Alps  of  Phocis  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful  in 
all  Greece — certainly,  with  the  exception  of  the 
journey  from  Olympia  over  Mount  Erymanthus, 
274 


A Greek  Shepherd,  Olympia 


THE  ROAD  TO  DELPHI. 


275 


the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  routes  known  to  me 
through  the  highlands. 

The  old  priests  of  Delphi,  who  were  the  first 
systematic  road-builders  among  the  Greeks,  had 
made  a careful  way  from  Thebes  into  Phocis,  for 
the  use  of  the  pilgrims  thronging  to  their  shrine. 
It  appears  that,  by  way  of  saving  the  expense  of 
paving  it  all,  they  laid  down  or  macadamized  in 
some  way  a double  wheel-track  or  fixed  track,  upon 
which  chariots  could  run  with  safety ; but  we  hear 
from  the  oldest  times  of  the  unpleasantness  of  two 
vehicles  meeting  on  this  road,  and  of  the  disputes 
that  took  place  as  to  which  of  them  should  turn 
aside  into  the  deep  mud.1  We  may  infer  from  this 
that  the  lot  of  pedestrians  cannot  have  been  very 
pleasant.  Now,  all  these  difficulties  have  vanished 
with  the  road  itself.  There  are  nothing  but  faintly- 
marked  bridle-paths,  often  indicated  only  by  the 
solitary  telegraph  wires,  which  reach  over  the  moun- 
tains, apparently  for  no  purpose  whatever ; and  all 
travellers  must  ride  or  walk  in  single  file,  if  they 
will  not  force  their  way  through  covert  and  forest. 

These  wild  mountains  do  not  strike  the  mind  with 
the  painful  feeling  of  desolation  which  is  produced 
by  the  abandoned  plains.  At  no  time  can  they  have 
supported  a large  population,  and  we  may  suppose 

1 This  seems  to  be  implied  in  the  account  of  the  murder  of 
La'fus  by  (Edipus,  on  this  very  road,  as  it  is  described  in 
Sophocles’s  (Edipus  Tyrannus. 


276 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


that  they  never  contained  more  than  scattered 
hamlets  of  shepherds,  living,  as  they  now  do,  in 
deep  brown  hairy  tents  of  hides  at  night,  and 
wandering  along  the  glens  by  day,  in  charge  of 
great  herds  of  quaint-looking  goats  with  long  beards 
and  spiral  horns.  The  dull  tinkling  of  their  bells, 
and  the  eagle’s  yelp,  are  the  only  sounds  which  give 
variety  to  the  rushing  of  the  wind  through  the  dark 
pines,  and  the  falling  of  the  torrent  from  the  rocks. 
It  is  a country  in  which  the  consciousness  grows  not 
of  solitude,  but  of  smallness — a land  of  huge  form 
and  feature,  meet  dwelling  for  mysterious  god  and 
gloomy  giant,  but  far  too  huge  for  mortal  man. 

Our  way  lay,  not  directly  for  Delphi,  but  for  the 
curious  town  of  Arachova,  which  is  perched  on  the 
summit  of  precipices  some  4000  feet  or  more  above 
the  level  of  the  sea.  We  rode  from  eight  in  the 
morning  till  the  evening  twilight  to  reach  this  place, 
and  all  the  day  through  scenes  which  gave  us  each 
moment  some  new  delight  and  some  new  astonish- 
ment, but  which  could  only  be  described  by  a painter, 
not  by  any  pages  of  writing,  however  poetical  or 
picturesque.  It  is  the  misfortune  of  such  descrip- 
tions on  paper,  that  the  writer  alone  has  the  remem- 
bered image  clear  before  him ; no  reader  can  grasp 
the  detail  and  frame  for  himself  a faithful  picture. 

We  felt  that  we  were  approaching  Arachova 
when  we  saw  the  steep  slopes  above  and  below  our 
path  planted  with  vineyards,  and  here  and  there 


THE  ROAD  TO  DELPHI. 


277 


a woman  in  her  gay  dress  working  on  the  steep 
incline,  where  a stumble  would  have  sent  her  rolling 
many  hundreds  of  feet  into  some  torrent  bed.  At 
one  particular  spot,  where  the  way  turned  round  a 
projecting  shoulder,  we  were  struck  by  seeing  at 
the  same  time,  to  the  north,  the  blue  sea  under 
Euboea,  and,  at  the  south,  the  Gulf  of  Corinth 
where  it  nears  Delphi — both  mere  patches  among 
the  mountains,  like  the  little  tarns  among  the  Irish 
moors,  but  both  great  historic  waters — old  high 
roads  of  commerce  and  of  culture.  From  any  of 
the  summits  such  a view  from  sea  to  sea  would  not 
be  the  least  remarkable  ; but  it  was  interesting  and 
unusual  to  see  it  from  a mule’s  back  on  one  of  the 
high  roads  of  the  country.  A moment  later,  the 
houses  of  Arachova  itself  attracted  all  our  attention, 
lying  as  they  did  over  against  us,  and  quite  near,  but 
with  a great  gulf  between  us  and  them,  which  we 
were  fortunately  able  to  ride  round.  The  town  has 
a curious,  scattered  appearance,  with  interrupted 
streets  and  uncertain  plan,  owing  not  only  to  the 
extraordinary  nature  of  the  site,  but  to  the  fact  that 
huge  boulders,  I might  say  rocks,  have  been  shaken 
loose  by  earthquakes  from  above,  and  have  come 
tumbling  into  the  middle  of  the  town.  They  crush 
a house  or  two,  and  stand  there  in  the  street.  Pres- 
ently some  one  comes  and  builds  a house  up  against 
the  side  of  this  rock ; others  venture  in  their  turn, 
and  so  the  town  recovers  itself,  till  another  earth- 


278 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


quake  makes  another  rent.  Since  1870  these  earth- 
quakes have  been  very  frequent.  At  first  they  were 
very  severe,  and  ruined  almost  all  the  town ; but 
now  they  are  very  slight,  and  so  frequent  that  we 
were  assured  that  they  happened  at  some  hour  every 
day.  I believe  this  is  practically  true,  though  we, 
who  arrived  in  the  evening  and  left  early  next  day, 
were  not  so  fortunate  as  to  feel  the  shock  ourselves. 
But  the  whole  region  of  Parnassus  shows  great  scars 
and  wounds  from  this  awful  natural  scourge. 

Arachova  is  remarkable  as  being  one  of  the  very 
few  towns  of  Greece  of  any  note  which  is  not  built 
upon  a celebrated  site.  Everywhere  the  modern 
Greek  town  is  a mere  survival  of  the  old.  I remem- 
ber but  three  exceptions — Arachova,  Hydra,  and 
Tripolitza,1  and  of  these  the  latter  two  arose  from 
special  and  known  circumstances.  The  prosperity 
of  Arachova  is  not  so  easily  explicable.  In  spite  of 
its  wonderful  and  curious  site,  the  trade  of  the  place 
is,  for  a Greek  town,  very  considerable.  The  wines 
which  they  make  are  of  the  highest  repute,  though 
to  us  the  free  use  of  resin  makes  them  all  equally 
worthless.  Besides,  they  work  beautifully  patterned 
rugs  of  divers-colored  wool — rugs  which  are  sold  at 
high  prices  all  over  the  Greek  waters.  They  are 
used  in  boats,  on  saddles,  on  beds — in  fact  for  every 
possible  rough  use.  The  patterns  are  stitched  on 

1 Indeed  Tripolitza  lies  between  the  ancient  sites  of  Mantinea 
and  Tegea,  and  quite  close  to  the  latter. 


ARACHOVA. 


279 


with  wool,  and  the  widths  sewn  together  in  the  same 
way,  with  effective  rudeness. 

We  had  an  excellent  opportunity  of  seeing  all  this 
sort  of  work,  as  we  found  the  town  in  some  excite- 
ment at  an  approaching  marriage ; and  we  went  to 
see  the  bride,  whom  we  found  in  a spacious  room, 
with  low  wooden  rafters,  in  the  company  of  a large 
party  of  her  companions,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides 
by  her  dowry,  which  consisted,  in  eastern  fashion, 
almost  altogether  of  u changes  of  raiment.”  All 
round  the  room  these  rich  woollen  rugs  lay  in  per- 
fect piles,  and  from  the  low  ceiling  hung  in  great 
numbers  her  future  husband’s  white  petticoats ; for 
in  that  country,  as  everywhere  in  Greece,  the  men 
wear  the  petticoats.  The  company  were  all  dressed 
in  full  costume — white  sleeves,  embroidered  woollen 
aprons,  gold  and  silver  coins  about  the  neck,  and  a 
bright  red  loose  belt  worn  low  round  the  figure.  To 
complete  the  picture,  each  girl  had  in  her  left  hand 
a distaff,  swathed  about  with  rich,  soft,  white  wool, 
from  which  her  right  hand  and  spindle  were  deftly 
spinning  thread,  as  she  walked  about  the  room 
admiring  the  trousseau , and  joking  with  us  and  with 
her  companions.  The  beauty  of  the  Arachovite 
women  is  as  remarkable  as  the  strength  and  lon- 
gevity of  the  men,  nor  do  I know  any  mountaineers 
equal  to  them,  except  those  of  some  of  the  valleys 
in  the  Tyrol.  But  there,  as  is  well  known,  beauty 
is  chiefly  confined  to  the  men  ; at  Arachova  it  seemed 


280 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


fairly  distributed.  We  did  not  see  any  one  girl  of 
singular  beauty.  The  average  was  remarkably  high  ; 
and,  as  might  be  expected,  they  were  not  only  very 
fair,  but  of  that  peculiarly  clear  complexion,  and 
vigorous  frame,  which  seem  almost  always  to  be 
found  when  a good  climate  and  clear  air  are  com- 
bined with  a very  high  level  above  the  sea. 

We  saw,  moreover,  what  they  called  a Pyrrhic 
dance,  which  consisted  of  a string  of  people,  hand- 
in-hand,  standing  in  the  form  of  a spiral,  and  moving 
rhythmically,  while  the  outside  member  of  the  train 
performed  curious  and  violent  gymnastics.  The 
music  consisted  in  the  scpiealing  of  a horrible  clari- 
onette,  accompanied  by  the  beating  of  a large  drum. 
The  clarionette-player  had  a leathern  bandage  about 
his  mouth,  like  that  which  we  see  in  the  ancient 
reliefs  and  pictures  of  double-flute-players.  Ac- 
cording as  each  principal  dancer  was  fatigued,  he 
passed  off  from  the  end  of  the  spiral  line,  and  stuck 
a silver  coin  between  the  cap  and  forehead  of  the 
player.  The  whole  motion  was  extremely  slow 
throughout  the  party — the  centre  of  the  coil,  which 
is  often  occupied  by  little  children,  hardly  moving 
at  all,  and  paying  little  attention  to  the  dance. 

In  general,  the  Greek  music  which  I heard — dance 
music,  and  occasional  shepherds*  songs — was  nothing 
but  a wild  and  monotonous  chant,  with  two  or  three 
shakes  and  ornaments  on  a high  note,  running  down 
to  a long  drone  note  at  the  end.  They  repeat  these 


ARACHOVA. 


281 


phrases,  which  are  not  more  than  three  bars  long, 
over  and  over  again,  with  some  slight  variations  of 
appoggiatura.  I was  told  by  competent  people  at 
Athens,  that  all  this  was  not  properly  Greek,  but 
Turkish,  and  that  the  long  slavery  of  the  Greeks 
had  completely  destroyed  the  traditions  of  their 
ancient  music.  Though  this  seemed  certainly  true 
of  the  music  which  I heard,  I very  much  doubt  that 
any  ancient  feature  so  general  can  have  completely 
disappeared.  When  there  are  national  songs  of  a dis- 
tinctly Greek  character  transmitted  all  through  the 
Slavish  and  Turkish  periods,  it  seems  odd  that  they 
should  be  sung  altogether  to  foreign  music.  With- 
out more  careful  investigation  I should  be  slow  to 
decide  upon  such  a question.  Unfortunately,  our 
specimens  of  old  Greek  music  are  very  few,  and 
probably  very  insignificant,  all  the  extant  works  on 
music  by  the  ancients  being  devoted  to  theoretical 
questions,  which  are  very  difficult  and  not  very 
profitable.  To  this  subject  I have  devoted  a special 
discussion  in  my  Social  Life  in  Greece , with  what 
illustration  it  is  now  possible  to  obtain. 

The  inhabitants  wished  us  to  stay  with  them  some 
days,  which  would  have  given  us  an  opportunity  of 
witnessing  the  wedding  ceremony,  and  also  of  mak- 
ing excursions  to  the  snowy  tops  of  Mount  Parnassus. 
But  we  had  had  enough  of  that  sort  of  amusement 
in  a climb  up  Mount  iEtna,  a short  time  before,  and 
the  five  hours*  toiling  on  the  snow  in  a thick  fog  was 


282 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


too  fresh  in  our  memory,  Beside,  we  were  bound 
to  catch  the  weekly  steamer  at  Itea,  as  the  port  of 
Delphi  is  now  called ; and  eight  additional  days,  or 
rather  nights,  in  this  country  might  have  been  too 
much  for  the  wildest  enthusiast.  For  the  wooden 
houses  of  Arachova  are  beyond  all  other  structures 
infested  with  life,  and  not  even  the  balconies  in  the 
frosty  night  air  were  safe  from  insect  invasions. 

We  therefore  started  early  in  the  morning,  and 
kept  along  the  sides  of  precipices  on  our  way  to 
the  oracle  of  Delphi.  It  is  not  wonderful  that  the 
Arachovites  should  be  famous  for  superstitions  and 
legends,  and  that  the  inquirers  into  the  remnants  of 
old  Greek  beliefs  in  the  present  day  have  found  their 
richest  harvest  in  this  mountain  fastness,  where  there 
seems  no  reason  why  any  belief  should  ever  die  out. 
More  especially  the  faith  in  the  terrible  god  of  the 
dead,  Charos,  who  represents  not  only  the  old  Charon, 
but  Pluto  also,  is  here  very  deep-seated,  and  many 
Arachovite  songs  and  ballads  speak  of  his  awful  and 
relentless  visits.  Longevity  is  so  usual,  and  old  age 
is  so  hale  and  green  in  these  Alps,  that  the  death  of 
the  young  comes  home  with  far  greater  force  and 
pathos  here  than  in  unhealthy  or  immoral  societies, 
and  thus  the  inroads  of  Charos  are  not  borne  in 
sullen  silence,  but  lamented  with  impatient  com- 
plaints. 

At  eleven  o’clock  we  came,  in  the  fierce  summer 
sun,  to  the  ascent  into  the  “rocky  Pytho,”  where 


DELPHI. 


283 


the  terraced  city  of  old  had  once  harbored  pilgrims 
from  every  corner  of  the  civilized  world.  The  ordi- 
nary histories  which  we  read  give  us  but  little  idea 
of  the  mighty  influence  of  this  place  in  the  age  of 
its  faith.  We  hear  of  its  being  consulted  by  Croe- 
sus, or  by  the  Romans,  and  we  appreciate  its  renown 
for  sanctity  $ but  until  of  very  late  years  there  was 
small  account  taken  of  its  political  and  commercial 
importance.  The  date  of  its  first  rise  is  hidden  in 
remote  antiquity.  As  the  story  goes,  a shepherd, 
who  fed  his  flocks  here,  observed  the  goats,  when 
they  approached  the  vaporous  cavern,  springing 
about  madly,  as  if  under  some  strange  influence. 
He  came  up  to  see  the  place  himself,  and  was  imme- 
diately seized  with  the  prophetic  frenzy.  So  the 
reputation  of  the  place  spread,  first  around  the 
neighboring  pastoral  tribes,  and  then  to  a wider 
sphere. 

This  very  possible  origin,  however,  does  not  dis- 
tinctly assert  what  may  certainly  be  inferred — I 
mean  the  existence  of  some  older  and  ruder  wor- 
ship, before  the  worship  of  Apollo  was  here  estab- 
lished. Two  arguments  make  this  clear.  In  the 
first  place,  old  legends  consistently  speak  of  the 
arrival  of  Apollo  here ; of  his  conflict  with  the 
powers  of  earth,  under  the  form  of  the  dragon 
Python ; of  his  having  undergone  purification  for 
its  murder,  and  having  been  formally  ceded  pos- 
session by  its  older  owners.  This  distinct  allusion 


284 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


to  a previous  cult,  and  one  even  hostile  to  Apollo, 
but  ultimately  reconciled  with  him,  is  sustained  by 
the  fact  that  Pausanias  describes  in  the  Temple  of 
Apollo  itself  two  old  stones — one  apparently  an 
aerolith — which  were  treated  with  great  respect, 
anointed  daily  with  oil,  and  adorned  with  garlands 
of  flowers.  One  of  these  was  to  the  Greeks  the 
centre  of  the  earth  (o//^a^oc),  and  beside  it  were 
two  eagles  in  gold,  to  remind  one  of  the  legend  that 
Zeus  had  started  two  eagles  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  and  that  they  met  at  this  exact  spot  midway. 
These  old  and  shapeless  stones,  which  occur  else- 
where in  Greek  temples,  point  to  the  older  stage 
of  fetish  worship,  before  the  Greeks  had  risen  to 
the  art  of  carving  a statue,  or  of  worshipping  the 
unseen  deity  without  a gross  material  symbol. 

The  researches  of  M.  A.  Lebegue,  at  Delos,  have 
given  us  another  instance.  He  found  that  the  old 
shrine  of  Apollo  has  been  made  in  imitation  of  a 
cave,  and  that  in  the  recess  of  the  shrine,  made 
with  large  slabs  of  stone  forming  a gable  over  a 
natural  fissure  in  the  rock,  there  was  an  ancient, 
rude,  sacred  stone,  on  which  were  remaining  the 
feet  of  the  statue,  which  had  afterward  been  added 
to  give  dignity  to  the  improved  worship.  M.  Lebe- 
gue’s  work  at  Delos  has  been  completed  and  super- 
seded by  M.  Homollc. 

Homer  speaks  in  the  Iliad  of  the  great  wealth  of 
the  Pythian  shrine ; and  the  Hymn  to  the  Pythian 


The  Temple  of  Apollo,  Delphi 


DELPHI. 


285 


Apollo  implies  that  its  early  transformations  were 
completed.  But  seeing  that  the  god  Apollo,  though 
originally  an  Ionian  god,  as  at  Delos,  was  here  wor- 
shipped distinctively  by  the  Dorians,  we  shall  not 
err  if  we  consider  the  rise  of  the  oracle  to  greatness 
coincident  with  the  rise  and  spreading  of  the  Dorians 
over  Greece — an  event  to  which  we  can  assign  no 
date,  but  which,  in  legend,  comes  next  after  the 
Trojan  War,  and  seems  near  the  threshold  of  real 
history.  The  absolute  submission  of  the  Spartans, 
when  they  rose  to  power,  confirmed  the  authority 
of  the  shrine,  and  so  it  gradually  came  to  be  the 
Metropolitan  See,  so  to  speak,  in  the  Greek  relig- 
ious world.  It  seems  that  the  influence  of  this 
oracle  was,  in  old  days,  always  used  in  the  direc- 
tion of  good  morals  and  of  enlightenment.  When 
neighboring  states  were  likely  to  quarrel,  the  oracle 
was  often  a peacemaker,  and  even  acted  as  arbitra- 
tor— a course  usual  in  earlier  Greek  history,  and  in 
which  they  anticipated  the  best  results  of  our  nine- 
teenth-century culture.  So  again,  when  excessive 
population  demanded  an  outlet,  the  oracle  was  con- 
sulted as  to  the  proper  place,  and  the  proper  leader 
to  be  selected ; and  all  the  splendid  commercial  de- 
velopment of  the  sixth  century  B.  c.,  though  not 
produced,  was  at  least  sanctioned  and  promoted,  by 
the  Delphic  Oracle.  Again,  in  determining  the 
worship  of  other  gods  and  the  founding  of  new 
services  to  great  public  benefactors,  the  oracle 


286 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


seems  to  have  been  the  acknowledged  authority — 
thus  taking  the  place  of  the  Vatican  in  Catholic 
Europe,  as  the  source  and  origin  of  new  dogmas, 
and  of  new  worships  and  formularies. 

At  the  same  time  the  treasure-house  of  the  shrine 
was  the  largest  and  safest  of  banks,  where  both  in- 
dividuals and  states  might  deposit  treasure — nay, 
even  the  states  seem  to  have  had  separate  chambers 
— and  from  which  they  could  also  borrow  money,  at 
fair  interest,  in  times  of  war  and  public  distress. 
The  rock  of  Delphi  was  held  to  be  the  navel  or  cen- 
tre of  the  earth’s  surface,  and  certainly  in  a social 
and  religious  sense  this  was  the  case  for  all  the 
Greek  world.  Thus  the  priests  were  informed,  by 
perpetual  visitors  from  all  sides,  of  all  the  last  news 
— of  the  general  aspect  of  politics — of  the  new  de- 
velopments of  trade — of  the  latest  discoveries  in 
outlying  and  barbarous  lands — and  were  accord- 
ingly able,  without  any  genius  or  supernatural  in- 
spiration, to  form  their  judgments  upon  wider  expe- 
rience and  better  knowledge  than  anybody  else 
could  command.  This  advice,  which  was  really 
sound  and  well-considered,  was  given  to  people  who 
took  it  to  be  divine,  and  acted  upon  it  with  implicit 
faith  and  zeal.  Of  course,  the  result  was  in  general 
satisfactory ; and  so  even  individuals  made  use  of  it 
as  a sort  of  high  confessional,  to  which  they  came 
as  pilgrims  at  some  important  crisis  of  their  life; 
and  finding  by  the  response  that  the  god  seemed  to 


DELPHI. 


287 


know  all  about  the  affairs  of  every  city,  went  away 
fully  satisfied  with  the  divine  authority  of  the  oracle. 

This  great  and  deserved  general  reputation  was 
not  affected  by  occasional  rumors  of  bribed  responses 
or  of  dishonest  priestesses.  Such  things  must  hap- 
pen everywhere ; but,  as  Lord  Bacon  long  ago  ob- 
served, human  nature  is  more  affected  by  affirmatives 
than  negatives — that  is  to  say,  a few  cases  of  bril- 
liantly accurate  prophecy  will  outweigh  a great 
number  of  cases  of  doubtful  advices  or  even  of 
acknowledged  corruption.  So  the  power  of  the 
Popes  has  lasted  in  some  respects  undiminished 
to  the  present  day,  and  they  are  still  regarded  by 
many  as  infallible,  even  though  historians  have  pub- 
lished many  dreadful  lives  of  some  of  them,  and 
branded  them  as  men  of  worse  than  average 
morals. 

The  greatness  and  the  national  importance  of  the 
Delphic  Oracle  lasted  from  the  invasion  of  the 
Dorians  down  to  the  Persian  War,  certainly  more 
than  three  centuries ; when  the  part  which  it  took  in 
the  latter  struggle  gave  it  a blow  from  which  it 
seems  never  to  have  recovered.  When  the  invasion 
of  Xerxes  was  approaching,  the  Delphic  priests  in- 
formed accurately  of  the  immense  power  of  the  Per- 
sians, made  up  their  minds  that  all  resistance  was 
useless,  and  counselled  absolute  submission  or  flight. 
According  to  all  human  probabilities  they  were 
right,  for  nothing  but  a series  of  blunders  could  pos- 


288 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sibly  have  checked  the  Persians.  But  surely  the 
god  ought  to  have  inspired  them  to  utter  patriotic 
responses,  and  thus  to  save  themselves  in  case  of 
such  a miracle  as  actually  happened.  I cannot  but 
suspect  that  they  hoped  to  gain  the  favor  of  Xerxes, 
and  remain  under  him  what  they  had  hitherto  been, 
a wealthy  and  protected  corporation.1  Perhaps  they 
even  saw  too  far,  and  perceived  that  the  success  of 
the  Greeks  would  bring  the  Ionic  states  into  promi- 
nence ; but  we  must  not  credit  them  with  too  much. 
The  result,  however,  told  greatly  against  them.  The 
Greeks  won,  and  the  Athenians  got  the  lead, — the 
Athenians,  who  very  soon  developed  a secular  and 
worldly  spirit,  and  who  were  by  no  means  awed  by 
responses  which  had  threatened  them  and  weakened 
their  hands,  when  their  own  courage  and  skill  had 
brought  them  deliverance.  And  we  can  imagine 
even  Themistocles,  not  to  speak  of  Pericles  and 
Antiphon,  looking  upon  the  oracles  as  little  more 
than  a convenient  way  of  persuading  the  mob  to  fol- 
low a policy  which  it  was  not  able  to  understand. 
The  miraculous  defeat  of  the  Persians  by  the  god, 
who  repeated  his  wonders  when  the  Gauls  attacked 
his  shrine,  should  be  read  in  Herodotus  and  in  Pau- 
sanias. 

1 This  was  done  by  the  monks  at  Atlios,  when  Mahomet  II. 
was  threatening  Constantinople.  They  foresaw  his  victory,  and  by 
early  submission  made  their  own  terms,  and  saved  both  their  lib- 
erties and  their  property. 


DELPHI. 


289 


It  is  with  some  sadness  that  we  turn  from  the 
splendid  past  of  Delphi  to  its  miserable  present. 
The  sacred  cleft  in  the  earth,  from  which  rose  the 
cold  vapor  that  intoxicated  the  priestess,  is  blocked 
up  and  lost.  As  it  lay  within  the  shrine  of  the 
temple,  it  may  have  been  filled  by  the  falling  ruins, 
or.  still  more  completely  destroyed  by  an  earthquake. 
But,  apart  from  these  natural  possibilities,  we  are 
told  that  the  Christians,  after  the  oracle  was  closed 
by  Theodosius,  filled  up  and  effaced  the  traces 
of  what  they  thought  a special  entrance  to  hell, 
where  communications  had  been  held  with  the  Evil 
One. 

The  three  great  fountains  or  springs  of  the  town 
are  still  in  existence.  The  first  and  most  striking 
of  these  bursts  out  from  between  the  Phsedriades — 
two  shining  peaks,  which  stand  up  one  thousand 
feet  over  Delphi,  and  so  close  together  as  to  leave 
only  a dark  and  mysterious  gorge  or  fissure,  not 
twenty  feet  wide,  intervening.  The  aspect  of  these 
twin  peaks,  so  celebrated  by  the  Greek  poets,  with 
their  splendid  stream,  the  Castalian  fount,  bursting 
from  between  them,  is  indeed  grand  and  startling. 
A great  square  bath  is  cut  in  the  rock,  just  at  the 
mouth  of  the  gorge ; but  the  earthquake  of  1870, 
which  made  such  havoc  of  Arachova,  has  been  busy 
here  also,  and  has  tumbled  a huge  block  into  this 
bath,  thus  covering  the  old  work,  as  well  as  several 
votive  niches  cut  into  the  rocky  wall.  This  was  the 

19 


290 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


place  where  arriving  pilgrims  purified  themselves 
with  hallowed  water. 

In  the  great  old  days  the  oracle  gave  responses 
on  the  seventh  of  each  month,  and  even  then  only 
when  the  sacrifices  were  favorable.  If  the  victims 
were  not  perfectly  without  blemish,  they  could  not 
be  offered ; if  they  did  not  tremble  all  over  when 
brought  to  the  altar,  the  day  was  thought  unpropi- 
tious.  The  inquirers  entered  the  great  temple  in  festal 
dress,  with  olive  garlands  and  stemmata , or  fillets  of 
wool,  led  by  the  oaiot , or  sacred  guardians  of  the 
temple,  who  were  five  of  the  noblest  citizens  of 
Delphi.  The  priestesses,  on  the  contrary — there 
were  three  at  the  same  time,  who  officiated  in  turn 
— though  Delphians  also,  were  not  frequently  of 
noble  family.  When  the  priestess  was  placed  on  the 
sacred  tripod  by  the  chief  interpreter,  or  TtpoiprjzYjz, 
over  the  exhalations,  she  was  seized  with  frenzy — 
often  so  violent  that  the  ootoi  were  known  to  have 
fled  in  terror,  and  she  herself  to  have  become  insen- 
sible, and  to  have  died.  Her  ravings  in  this  state 
were  carefully  noted  down,  and  then  reduced  to 
sense,  and  of  old  always  to  verses,  by  the  attendant 
priests,  who  of  course  interpreted  disconnected  words 
with  a special  reference  to  the  politics  or  other  cir- 
cumstances of  the  inquirers. 

This  was  done  in  early  days  with  perfect  ^good 
faith.  During  the  decline  of  religion  there  were  of 
course  many  cases  of  corruption  and  of  partiality, 


DELPHI— THE  ORACLE. 


291 


and,  indeed,  the  whole  style  and  dignity  of  the  oracle 
gradually  decayed  with  the  decay  of  Greece  itself. 
Presently,  when  crowds  came,  and  states  were  ex- 
tremely jealous  of  the  right  of  precedence  in  inquir- 
ing of  the  god,  it  was  found  expedient  to  give  re- 
sponses every  day,  and  this  was  done  to  private 
individuals,  and  even  for  trivial  reasons.  So  also 
the  priests  no  longer  took  the  trouble  to  shape  the 
responses  into  verse ; and  when  the  Phocians  in 
the  sacred  war  (355-46  b.  c.)  seized  the  treasures, 
and  applied  to  military  purposes  some  ten  thousand 
talents,  the  shrine  suffered  a blow  from  which  it 
never  recovered.  Still,  the  quantity  of  splendid 
votive  offerings  which  were  not  convertible  into 
ready  money  made  it  the  most  interesting  place  in 
Greece,  next  to  Athens  and  Olympia,  for  lovers  of 
the  arts : and  the  statues,  tripods,  and  other  curi- 
osities described  there  by  Pausanias,  give  a wonder- 
ful picture  of  the  mighty  oracle  even  in  its  decay.1 
The  greatest  sculptors,  painters,  and  architects  had 
lavished  their  labor  upon  the  buildings.  Though 
Nero  had  carried  off  five  hundred  bronze  statues, 
the  traveller  estimated  the  remaining  works  of  art  at 
three  thousand,  and  yet  these  seem  to  have  been 
almost  all  statues,  and  not  to  have  included  tripods, 
pictures,  and  other  gifts.  The  Emperor  Constantine 
brought  away  (330  a.  d.)  a great  number  to  adorn 

1 Cf.  also  Plutarch’s  tract  de  Pyth.  orac.  for  details  of  ciceroni 
and  visitors  in  his  day. 


292 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


his  capital — more  especially  the  bronze  tripod, 
formed  of  three  intertwined  serpents,  with  their 
heads  supporting  a golden  vessel,  which  Pausanias, 
the  Spartan  King,  had  dedicated  as  the  leader  of 
Greece  to  commemorate  the  great  victory  over  Xer- 
xes. This  tripod  (which  was  found  standing  in  its 
place  at  Constantinople  by  our  soldiers  in  1852) 
contains  the  list  of  states  according  to  the  account 
of  Herodotus,  who  describes  its  dedication,  and  who 
saw  it  at  Delphi. 

When  the  Emperor  Julian,  the  last  great  champion 
of  paganism,  desired  to  consult  the  oracle  on  his 
way  to  Persia,  in  362  A.  D.,  it  replied : “ Tell  the 
king  the  fair-wrought  dwelling  has  sunk  into  the 
dust : Phoebus  has  no  longer  a shelter  or  a prophetic 
laurel,  neither  has  he  a speaking  fountain ; the  fair 
water  is  dried  up.”  Thus  did  the  shrine  confess, 
even  to  the  ardent  and  hopeful  Julian,  that  its  power 
had  passed  away,  and,  as  it  were  by  a supreme 
effort,  declared  to  him  the  great  truth  which  he  re- 
fused to  see — that  paganism  was  gone  for  ever,  and 
a new  faith  had  arisen  for  the  nations  of  the  Roman 
Empire. 

About  the  year  390,  Theodosius  took  the  god  at 
his  word,  and  closed  the  oracle  finally.  The  temple 
— with  its  cella  of  100  feet — with  its  Doric  and  Ionic 
pillars — with  its  splendid  sculptures  upon  the  pedi- 
ments— sank  into  decay  and  ruin.  The  walls  and 
porticos  tumbled  down  the  precipitous  cliffs ; the 


DELPHI— THE  ORACLE. 


293 


prophetic  chasm  was  tilled  up  by  the  Christians  with 
fear  and  horror ; and,  as  if  to  foil  any  attempt  to 
recover  from  ruins  the  site  and  plan,  the  modern 
Greeks  built  their  miserable  hamlet  of  Castri  upon 
the  spot ; so  that  it  is  only  among  the  walls  and 
foundations  laid  bare  by  earthquakes  that  we  can 
now  seek  for  marble  capitals  and  votive  inscriptions. 

One  or  two  features  are  still  unchanged.  The 
three  fine  springs,  to  which  Delphi  doubtless  owed 
its  first  selection  for  human  habitation,  are  still  there 
— Castalia,  of  which  we  have  spoken ; Cassotis, 
which  was  led  artificially  into  the  very  shrine  of  the 
god ; and  Delphussa,  which  was,  I suppose,  the 
water  used  for  secular  purposes  by  the  inhabitants. 
The  stadium,  too,  a tiny  racecourse  high  above  the 
town,  in  the  only  place  where  they  could  find  a 
level  150  yards,  is  still  visible ; and  we  see  at  once 
what  the  importance  of  games  must  have  been  at  a 
sacred  Greek  town,  when  such  a thing  as  a stadium 
should  be  attempted  here.1  The  earliest  competitions 
had  been  in  music — that  is,  in  playing  the  lyre,  in 
recitation,  and  probably  in  the  composition  of  orig- 
inal poems  j but  presently  the  physical  contests  of 
Olympia  began  to  outdo  the  splendor  of  Delphi. 
Moreover,  the  Spartans  would  not  compete  in  min- 
strelsy, which  they  liked  and  criticised,  but  left  to 
professional  artists.  Accordingly,  the  priests  of 

1 The  hippodrome  for  the  chariot  races  was,  however,  in  the 
plain  beneath,  as  Pausanias  tells  us  (x.  37,  4). 


294 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Delphi  were  too  practical  a corporation  not  to  widen 
the  programme  of  their  games,  and  Pindar  has  cele- 
brated the  Pythian  victors  as  hardly  second  to  those 
at  the  grand  festival  of  Elis. 

There  is  yet  one  more  element  in  the  varied  great- 
ness of  Delphi.  It  was  here  that  the  religious 
federation  of  Greece — the  Amphictyony  of  which  we 
hear  so  often — held  its  meetings  alternately  with  the 
meetings  at  the  springs  of  Thermopylae.  When  I 
stood  high  up  on  the  stadium  at  Delphi,  the  great 
scene  described  by  the  orator  ^Eschines  came  fresh 
upon  me,  when  he  looked  upon  the  sacred  plain  of 
Krissa,  and  called  all  the  worshippers  of  the  god  to 
clear  it  of  the  sacrilegious  Amphissians,  who  had 
covered  it  with  cattle  and  growing  crops.  The 
plain,  he  says,  is  easily  surveyed  from  the  place  of 
meeting — a statement  which  shows  that  the  latter 
cannot  have  been  in  the  town  of  Delphi : for  a 
great  shoulder  of  the  mountain  effectually  hides  the 
whole  plain  from  every  part  of  the  town. 

The  Pylaea,  or  place  of  assembly,  was,  however, 
outside,  and  precisely  at  the  other  side  of  this  huge 
shoulder,  so  that  what  iEschines  says  is  true  ; but  it 
is  not  true,  as  any  ordinary  student  imagines,  that 
he  was  standing  in  Delphi  itself.  He  was,  in  fact, 
completely  out  of  sight  of  the  town,  though  not  a 
mile  from  it.  There  is  no  more  common  error  than 
this  among  our  mere  book  scholars — and  I daresay 
there  are  not  many  who  realize  the  existence  of  this 


KIRRHA. 


295 


suburban  Pylsea,  and  its  situation  close  to,  but  in- 
visible from,  Delphi.  It  certainly  never  came  home 
to  me  till  I began  to  look  for  the  spot  from  which 
iEschines  might  have  delivered  his  famous  extem- 
pore address. 

When  we  rode  round  to  the  real  place  we  found 
his  words  amply  verified.  Far  below  us  stretched 
the  plain  from  Amphissa  to  Kirrha,  at  right  angles 
with  the  gorge  above  which  Delphi  is  situated. 
The  river-courses  of  the  Delphic  springs  form,  in 
fact,  a regular  zigzag.  When  they  tumble  from 
their  great  elevation  on  the  rocks  into  the  valley, 
they  join  the  Pleistus,  running  at  right  angles  toward 
the  west ; when  this  torrent  has  reached  the  plain, 
it  turns  again  due  south,  and  flows  into  the  sea  at 
the  Gulf  of  Kirrha.  Thus,  looking  from  Pylsea, 
you  see  the  upper  part  of  the  plain,  and  the  gorge 
to  the  north-west  of  it,  where  Amphissa  occupies  its 
place  in  a position  similar  to  the  mouth  of  the  gorge 
of  Delphi.  The  southern  rocks  of  the  gorge  over 
against  Delphi  shut  out  the  sea  and  the  actual  bay ; 
but  a large  rich  tract,  covered  with  olive-woods,  and 
medlars,  and  oleanders,  stretches  out  beneath  the 
eye — verily  a plain  worth  fighting  for,  and  a pos- 
session still  more  precious,  when  it  commanded  the 
approach  of  pilgrims  from  the  sea ; for  the  harbor 
duties  and  tolls  of  Kirrha  were  once  a large  revenue, 
and  their  loss  threatened  the  oracle  with  poverty. 
This  levying  of  tolls  on  the  pilgrims  to  Delphi  be- 


296 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


came  quite  a national  question  in  the  days  of  Solon  ; 
it  resulted  in  a great  war,  led  by  the  Amphictyonic 
Council.  Ivirrha  was  ruined,  and  its  land  dedicated 
to  the  god,  in  order  to  protect  the  approach  from 
future  difficulties.  So  this  great  tract  was,  I sup- 
pose, devoted  to  pasture,  and  the  priests  probably 
levied  a rent  from  the  people  who  choose  to  graze 
their  cattle  on  the  sacred  plain.  The  Amphissians, 
who  lived,  not  at  the  seaside,  but  at  the  mountain 
side  of  the  plain,  were  never  accused  of  robbing  or 
taxing  the  pilgrims ; but  having  acquired  for  many 
generations  the  right  of  pasture,  they  advanced  to 
the  idea  of  tilling  their  pastures,  and  were  undis- 
turbed in  this  privilege  till  the  mischievous  orator, 
iEschines,  for  his  own  purposes,  fired  the  Delphians 
with  rage,  kindled  a war,  and  so  brought  Philip  into 
Greece.  These  are  the  historical  circumstances 
which  should  be  called  to  mind  by  the  traveller,  who 
rides  down  the  steep  descent  from  Delphi  to  the 
plain,  and  then  turns  through  the  olive-woods  to  the 
high  road  to  Itea,  as  the  port  of  Delphi  is  now  called. 

A few  hours  brought  us  to  the  neighborhood  of 
the  sea.  The  most  curious  feature  of  this  valley,  as 
we  saw  it,  was  a long  string  of  camels  tied  together, 
and  led  by  a small  and  shabby  donkey.  Our  mules 
and  horses  turned  with  astonishment  to  examine 
these  animals,  which  have  survived  here  only, 
though  introduced  by  the  Turks  into  many  parts 
of  Greece. 


ITEA. 


297 


The  port  of  Itea  is  one  of  the  stations  at  which 
the  Greek  coasting  steamers  now  call,  and,  accord- 
ingly, the  place  is  growing  in  importance.  If  a 
day’s  delay  were  allowed,  to  let  tourists  ride  up  to 
the  old  seat  of  the  oracle,  and  if  the  service  were 
better  regulated  so  as  to  compete  in  convenience 
with  the  train  journey  from  Patras  to  Athens,  I 
suppose  no  traveller  going  to  Greece  would  choose 
any  other  route.  For  he  would  see  all  the  beautiful 
coasts  of  Acarnania  and  iEtolia  on  the  one  side,  and 
of  Achaia  on  the  other ; he  could  then  take  Delphi 
on  his  way,  and  would  land  again  at  Corinth.  Here 
again,  a day,  or  part  of  a day,  should  be  allowed  to 
see  the  splendid  Acro-Corinthus,  of  which  more  in 
another  chapter.  The  traveller  might  thus  reach 
Athens  with  an  important  part  of  Greece  already 
visited,  and  have  more  leisure  to  turn  his  attention 
to  the  monuments  and  curiosities  of  that  city  and 
of  Attica.  It  is  worth  while  to  suggest  these  things, 
because  most  men  who  go  to  Greece  find,  as  I did, 
that,  with  some  better  previous  information,  they 
could  have  economized  both  time  and  money.  I 
can  also  advise  that  the  coasting  steamer  should  be 
abandoned  at  Itea,  from  which  the  traveller  can 
easily  get  horses  to  Delphi  and  Arachova,  and  from 
thence  to  Chseronea,  Lebadea,  and  through  Thebes 
to  Athens.  So  he  would  arrive  there  by  a land  tour, 
which  would  make  him  acquainted  with  all  Boeotia. 
He  might  next  go  by  train  from  Athens  to  Corinth 


298 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


(stopping  on  the  way  at  Megara),  and  then  into  the 
Peloponnese ; going  first  to  Mycenae  and  Argos,  and 
then  taking  another  steamer  round  to  Sparta,  and 
riding  up  through  Laconia,  Arcadia,  and  Elis,  so 
as  to  come  out  at  Patras,  or  by  boat  to  Zante,  where 
the  steamer  homeward  would  pick  him  up.  Of 
course,  special  excursions  through  Attica,  and  to 
the  islands,  are  not  included  in  this  sketch,  as  they 
can  easily  be  made  from  Athens. 

But  surely,  no  voyage  in  Greece  can  be  called 
complete  which  does  not  include  a visit  to  the 
famous  shrine  of  Delphi,  where  the  wildness  and 
ruggedness  of  nature  naturally  suggest  the  powers 
of  earth  and  air,  that  sway  our  lives  unseen — where 
the  quaking  soil  and  the  rent  rocks  speak  a strength 
above  the  strength  of  mortal  man — and  where  a 
great  faith,  based  upon  his  deepest  hopes  and  fears, 
gained  a moral  empire  over  all  the  nation,  and  exer- 
cised it  for  centuries,  to  the  purifying  and  the  en- 
nobling of  the  Hellenic  race.  The  oracle  is  long 
silent,  the  priestess  forgotten,  the  temple  not  only 
ruined,  but  destroyed ; and  yet  the  grand  responses 
of  that  noble  shrine  are  not  forgotten,  nor  are  they 
dead.  For  they  have  contributed  their  part  and 
added  their  element  to  the  general  advancement  of 
the  world,  and  to  the  emancipation  of  man  from  im- 
morality and  superstition  into  the  true  liberty  of  a 
good  and  enlightened  conscience. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


ELIS OLYMPIA  AND  ITS  GAMES — THE  VALLEY  OF 

THE  ALPHEUS — MOUNT  ERYMANTHUS PATRAS. 

The  thousands  of  visitors,  whose  ships  thronged 
the  bay  of  Katakolo  every  four  years  in  the  great 
old  times,  cannot  have  been  fairly  impressed  with 
the  beauty  of  the  country  at  first  sight.  Most  other 
approaches  to  the  coast  of  Greece  are  far  more 
striking.  For  although,  on  a clear  day,  the  moun- 
tains of  Arcadia  are  plainly  visible,  and  form  a fine 
background  to  the  view,  from  the  great  bar  of  Ery- 
manthus  on  the  north,  round  to  the  top  of  Lykseon 
far  south-west,  the  foreground  has  not,  and  never 
had,  either  the  historic  interest  or  the  beauty  of  the 
many  bays  and  harbors  in  other  parts  of  Greece. 
Yet  I am  far  from  asserting  that  it  is  actually  want- 
ing even  in  this  respect.  As  we  saw  the  bay  in  a 
quiet  summer  sunset,  with  placid  water  reflecting  a 
sleeping  cloud  and  a few  idle  sails  in  its  amber  glow, 
with  a wide  circle  of  low  hills  and  tufted  shore 
bathed  in  a golden  haze,  which  spread  its  curtain 
of  light  athwart  all  the  distance,  so  that  the  great 
snowy  comb  of  Erymanthus  alone  seemed  suspended 
by  some  mystery  in  the  higher  blue — the  view  was 

299 


300 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


not  indeed  very  Greek,  but  still  it  was  beautiful,  and 
no  unsuitable  dress  wherein  the  land  might  clothe 
itself  to  welcome  the  traveller,  and  foretell  him  its 
sunny  silence  and  its  golden  mystery. 

The  carriage-way  along  the  coast  passes  by  sand- 
hills, and  sandy  fields  of  vines,  which  were  being 
tilled  when  we  saw  them  by  kindly  but  squalid 
peasants,  some  of  whom  lived  in  wretched  huts  of 
skins,  enclosed  with  a rough  fence.  But  these  were 
probably  only  temporary  dwellings,  for  the  thrift  and 
diligence  of  the  southern  Greek  seems  hardly  com- 
patible with  real  penury.  Mendicancy,  except  in 
the  case  of  little  children  who  do  it  for  the  nonce, 
seems  unknown  in  the  Morea. 

A dusty  ride  of  two  hours,  relieved  now  and  then 
for  a moment  by  the  intense  perfume  from  the  - 
orange  blossoms  of  gardens  fenced  with  mighty 
aloes,  brought  us  to  the  noisy  and  stirring  town  of 
Pyrgos.1  We  found  this  town,  one  of  the  most 
thriving  in  Greece,  quite  as  noisy  as  Naples  in  pro- 
portion to  its  size,  full  of  dogs  barking,  donkeys 
braying,  and  various  shopkeepers  screaming  out  their 
wares — especially  frequent  where  young  shrill-voiced 
boys  were  so  employed.  Nowhere  does  the  ultra- 
democratic  temper  of  new  Greek  social  life  show 
itself  more  manifestly  than  in  these  disturbed  streets. 
Not  only  does  every  member  of  human  society,  how- 

1 This  journey  I since  made  by  rail,  in  this  place  a harmless 
innovation. 


PYRGOS. 


301 


ever  young  or  ill-disposed,  let  his  voice  be  heard 
without  reserve,  but  it  seems  to  be  considered  an  in- 
fraction upon  liberty  to  silence  yelping  dogs,  braying 
donkeys,  or  any  other  animal  which  chooses  to  dis- 
turb its  neighbors. 

The  whole  town,  like  most  others  in  Greece,  even 
in  the  Arcadian  highlands,  is  full  of  half-built  and 
just  finished  houses,  showing  a rapid  increase  of 
prosperity,  or  perhaps  a return  of  the  population 
from  country  life  into  the  towns  which  have  always 
been  so  congenial  to  the  race.  But  if  the  latter  be 
the  fact,  there  yet  seems  no  slackening  in  the  agri- 
culture of  the  country,  which  in  the  Morea  is  strik- 
ingly diligent  and  laborious,  reaching  up  steep  hill- 
sides, and  creeping  along  precipices,  winning  from 
ungrateful  nature  every  inch  of  niggard  soil.1  This 
is  indeed  the  contrast  of  northern  and  southern 
Greece.  In  Boeotia  the  rich  plains  of  Thebes  and 
Orchomenos  are  lying  fallow,  while  all  the  rugged 
mountains  of  Arcadia  are  yielding  wine  and  oil. 
The  Greeks  will  tell  you  that  it  is  the  result  of  the 
security  established  by  their  Government  in  those 
parts  of  Greece  which  are  not  accessible  from  the 
Turkish  frontier.  They  assert  that  if  their  present 
frontier  were  not  at  Thermopylae  but  at  Tempe,  or 
even  farther  north,  the  rich  plains  of  northern  Greece 
would  not  lie  idle  through  fear  of  the  bandits,  which 

1 Cf.  the  passage  quoted  from  M.  Georges  Perrot  above,  p.  185. 


302 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


every  disturbance  excites  about  the  boundaries  of 
ill-guarded  kingdoms. 

The  carriage  road  from  Pyrgos  up  to  Olympia  was 
just  finished,  and  it  is  now  possible  to  drive  all  the 
way  from  the  sea,  but  we  preferred  the  old  method 
of  travelling  on  horseback  to  the  terrors  of  a newly- 
constructed  Greek  thoroughfare.  There  is,  more- 
over, in  wandering  on  unpaved  thoroughfares,  along 
meadows,  through  groves  and  thickets,  and  across 
mountains,  a charm  which  no  dusty  carriage  road 
can  ever  afford.  We  soon  came  upon  the  banks  of 
the  Alpheus,  which  we  followed  as  our  main  index, 
though  at  times  we  were  high  above  it,  and  at  times 
in  the  meadows  at  the  water-side ; at  times  again 
mounting  some  wooded  ridge  which  had  barred  the 
way  of  the  stream,  and  forced  it  to  take  a wide 
circuit  from  our  course,  or  again  crossing  the  deep 
cuttings  made  by  rivulets  which  come  down  from 
northern  Elis  to  swell  the  river  from  mile  to  mile. 

Our  path  must  have  been  almost  the  same  as  was 
followed  by  the  crowds  which  came  from  the  west  to 
visit  the  Olympic  games  in  classical  days : they 
must  have  ascended  along  the  windings  of  the  river, 
and  as  they  came  upon  each  new  amphitheatre  of 
hills,  and  each  new  tributary  stream,  they  may  have 
felt  the  impatience  which  we  felt  that  this  was  not 
the  sacred  Alt  is,  and  that  this  was  not  the  famous 
confluence  of  the  Kladeus.  But  the  season  in  which 
they  travelled — the  beginning  of  July — can  never 


The  Banks  of  the  Kladeus 


mm 


THE  ALPHEUS. 


303 


have  shown  them  the  valley  in  its  true  beauty.  In- 
stead of  a glaring  dry  bed  of  gravel,  and  meadows 
parched  with  heat,  we  found  the  Alpheus  a broad 
and  rapid  river,  which  we  crossed  on  horseback  with 
difficulty  j we  found  the  meadows  green  with  sprout- 
ing corn  and  bright  with  flowers,  and  all  along  the 
slopes  the  trees  were  bursting  into  bud  and  blos- 
som, and  filling  the  air  with  the  rich  scent  of  spring. 
Huge  shrubs  of  arbutus  and  of  mastich  closed 
around  the  paths,  while  over  them  the  Judas  tree 
and  the  wild  pear  covered  themselves  with  purple 
and  with  white,  and  on  every  bank  great  scarlet 
anemones  opened  their  wistful  eyes  in  the  morning 
sun. 

When  we  came  to  the  real  Olympia  the  prospect 
was  truly  disenchanting.  However  interesting  ex- 
cavations may  be,  they  are  always  exceedingly  ugly. 
Instead  of  grass  and  flowers,  and  pure  water,  we 
found  the  classic  spot  defaced  with  great  mounds  of 
earth,  and  trodden  bare  of  grass.  We  found  the 
Kladeus  flowing  a turbid  drain  into  the  larger  river. 
We  found  hundreds  of  workmen,  and  wheel-barrows, 
and  planks,  and  trenches,  instead  of  solitude  and  the 
song  of  birds.  Thus  it  was  that  we  found  the  fa- 
mous temple  of  Zeus. 

This  temple  was  in  many  respects  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  in  Greece,  especially  on  account  of  the 
great  image  of  Zeus,  which  Phidias  himself  wrought 
for  it  in  gold  and  ivory,  and  of  which  Pausanias  has 


304 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


left  us  a very  wonderful  description  (v.  II,  sqq.).  It 
was  carried  away  to  Constantinople,  and  of  course 
its  precious  material  precluded  all  chance  of  its  sur- 
viving through  centuries  of  ignorance  and  bigotry. 
The  temple  itself,  to  judge  from  its  appearance,  was 
somewhat  older  than  the  days  of  Phidias,  for  it  is  of 
that  thickset  and  massive  type  which  we  only  find 
in  the  earlier  Doric  temples,  and  which  rather  re- 
minds us  of  Psestum  than  of  Athenian  remains.  It 
was  built  by  a local  architect,  Libon,  and  of  a very 
coarse  limestone  from  the  neighborhood,  which  was 
covered  with  stucco,  and  painted  chiefly  white,  to 
judge  from  the  fragments  which  remain.  But  it 
seems  as  if  the  Eleans  had  done  all  they  could  to 
add  splendor  to  the  building,  whenever  their  funds 
permitted.  The  tiles  of  the  roof  were  not  of  burnt 
clay,  but  of  Pentelican  marble,  the  well-known  and 
beautiful  invention  of  the  Naxian  Byzes.  Moreover, 
Phidias  and  a number  of  his  fellow-workers  or  sub- 
ordinates at  Athens,  as  well  as  other  artists,  had 
been  invited  to  Olympia,  to  adorn  the  temple,  and  to 
them  we  owe  the  pediments,  probably  also  the 
metopes,  and  many  of  the  statues,  with  which  all 
the  sacred  enclosure  around  the  edifice  was  literally 
thronged.  Subsequent  generations  added  to  this 
splendor : a gilded  figure  of  Victory,  with  a gold 
shield,  was  set  upon  the  apex  of  the  gable ; gilded 
pitchers  at  the  extremities ; gilded  shields  were 
fastened  all  along  the  architraves  by  Mummius, 


HISTORY  OF  OLYMPIA. 


305 


from  the  spoils  of  Corinth,  and  the  great  statue  of 
Zeus  within  still  remained,  the  wonder  and  the  awe 
of  the  ancient  world. 

But  with  the  fall  of  paganism  and  the  formal 
extinction  of  the  Olympic  games  (394  a.  d.)  the 
glories  of  the  temple  fell  into  decay.  The  great 
statue  in  the  shrine  was  carried  away  to  Byzantium ; 
many  of  the  votive  bronzes  and  marbles  which  stood 
about  the  sacred  grove  were  transported  to  Italy ; 
and  at  last  a terrible  earthquake,  apparently  in  the 
fifth  century,  levelled  the  whole  temple  almost  with 
the  ground.  The  action  of  this  extraordinary  earth- 
quake is  still  plainly  to  be  traced  in  the  now  uncov- 
ered ruins.  It  upheaved  the  temple  from  the  centre, 
throwing  the  pillars  of  all  the  four  sides  outward, 
where  most  of  them  lie  with  their  drums  separated, 
but  still  complete  in  all  parts,  and  only  requiring 
mechanical  power  to  set  them  up  again.  Some  pre- 
liminary shakes  had  caused  pieces  of  the  pediment 
sculptures  to  fall  out  of  their  place,  for  they  were 
found  at  the  foot  of  the  temple  steps ; but  the  main 
shock  threw  the  remainder  to  a great  distance,  and 
I saw  the  work  of  Alkamenes  being  unearthed  more 
than  twenty-five  yards  from  its  proper  site. 

In  spite  of  this  convulsion,  the  floor  of  the  temple, 
with  its  marble  work,  and  its  still  more  beautiful 
mosaic,  is  still  there,  and  it  seemed  doubtful  to  the 
Germans  whether  there  is  even  a crack  now  to  be 
found  in  it.  About  the  ruins  there  gathered  some 
20 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


30  fi 

little  population,  for  many  fragments  were  found 
built  into  walls  of  poor  and  late  construction  5 but 
this  work  of  destruction  was  fortunately  arrested  by 
a sudden  overflow  of  the  Alpheus,  caused  by  the 
bursting  of  one  of  the  mountain  lakes  about  Pheneus. 
The  river  then  covered  all  the  little  plain  of  Olympia 
with  a deep  layer  of  fine  sand  and  of  mud.  A 
thicket  of  arbutus  and  mastich  sprang  from  this 
fertile  soil,  and  so  covered  all  traces  of  antiquity, 
that  when  Chandler  visited  the  place  100  years  ago, 
nothing  but  a part  of  the  cella  wall  was  over  ground, 
and  this  was  since  removed  by  neighboring  builders. 
But  the  site  being  certain,  it  only  required  the  enter- 
prise of  modern  research  to  lay  bare  the  old  level  so 
fortunately  hidden  by  the  interposition  of  nature. 
The  traveller  who  now  visits  Olympia  can  see  the 
whole  plan  and  contour  of  the  great  temple,  with 
all  its  prostrate  pillars  lying  around  it.  He  can 
stand  on  the  very  spot  where  once  was  placed  the 
unrivalled  image — the  masterpiece  of  Phidias’s  art. 
He  can  see  the  old  mosaic  in  colored  pebbles,  with 
its  exquisite  design,  which  later  taste — probably 
Boman — thought  well  to  cover  with  a marble  pave- 
ment. But  far  above  all,  he  can  find  in  adjoining 
sheds  1 not  only  the  remains  of  the  famous  Nike  of 

1 A commodious  stone  museum  has  since  been  built,  and  the 
treasures  are  doubtless  by  this  time  transferred  to  it.  But  the 
great  earthquake  of  1885,  so  near  Olympia,  makes  us  tremble  for 
the  safety  of  any  sculpture  in  a stone  building  under  a solid  roof. 
How  terrible  if  the  house  were  to  fall  on  the  Hermes! 


Statue  of  Nike,  by  Paeonius 


THE  PEDIMENT  SCULPTURES. 


307 


Pseonius,  which  stood  on  a pedestal  close  to  the 
east  front,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  splendid 
pediment  sculptures,  which  will  henceforth  rank 
among  the  most  important  relics  of  Greek  art. 
These  noble  compositions  have  been  restored  with 
tolerable  completeness,  and  now  stand  next  to  the 
pediments  of  the  Parthenon  in  conception  and  in 
general  design. 

For  even  if  the  restoration  were  never  accom- 
plished, there  is  enough  in  the  fragments  of  the 
figures  already  recovered  to  show  the  genius  of 
both  sculptors,  but  particularly  of  Alkamenes,  the 
author  of  the  western  pediment.  This  perfectly 
agrees  with  the  note  of  Pausanias,  who  adds,  in 
mentioning  this  very  work,  that  Alkamenes  was 
considered  in  his  day  an  artist  second  only  to 
Phidias. 

It  was  objected  to  me  by  learned  men  on  the  spot, 
that  the  eastern  pediment,  being  the  proper  front  of 
the  temple,  must  have  been  the  more  important,  and 
that  Pseonius,  as  we  know  from  an  inscription,  boasts 
that  he  obtained  the  executing  of  it  by  competition, 
thus  proving  that  he  was,  at  least  in  this  case,  pre- 
ferred to  his  rivals.  But  the  decided  superiority  of 
Alkamenes’s  design  leads  me  to  suppose  that  the 
boast  of  Pseonius  only  applies  to  the  eastern  pedi- 
ment, and  that  probably  the  western  had  been  already 
assigned  to  Alkamenes.  Nor  do  I agree  with  the 
view  that  the  eastern  pediment  must  have  been 


308 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


artistically  the  most  important.  In  several  Greek 
temples — e.  g.y  the  Parthenon,  the  temple  at  Bassse, 
and  in  this — the  great  majority  of  visitors  must 
have  approached  it  from  the  rear,  which  should 
accordingly  have  been  quite  the  prominent  side  for 
artistic  decoration.  Let  me  add  that  far  more  action 
was  permitted  in  the  groups  on  this  side,  while  over 
the  entrance  the  figures  were  staid  and  in  repose,  as 
if  to  harmonize  with  the  awe  and  silence  of  the 
entering  worshippers.  Be  these  things  as  they  may, 
the  work  of  Alkamenes  is  certainly  superior  to  that 
which  remains  to  us  of  Pseonius  in  the  eastern  pedi- 
ment, and  in  his  figure  of  winged  Victory,  which 
was,  I think,  greatly  overpraised  by  the  critics  who 
saw  it  soon  after  its  discovery.1 

The  composition  of  the  groups  in  the  pediments 
and  friezes  has  been  described  by  Pausanias  (v.  10, 
§§  6-10)  in  a passage  of  great  interest,  which  has 
given  rise  to  much  controversy.  The  general 
impression  of  Drs.  Hirschfeld  and  Weil,  when  I 
was  at  Olympia,  was  against  the  accuracy  of 
Pausanias,  whom  they  considered  to  have  blindly 
set  down  whatever  the  local  cicerones  told  him. 
That  of  Dr.  Purgold  was  in  his  favor.  The  traveller 
says,  however,  that  the  eastern  pediment,  in  which, 

1 This  judgment  of  mine  has  since  been  confirmed  by  the 
authority  of  Overbeck.  It  is  indeed  very  hard  to  estimate  rightly 
a new  discovery  of  this  kind.  I rated  the  work  of  Alkamenes, 
perhaps,  too  highly. 


PLAN  OF  THE  PEDIMENTS. 


309 


as  already  remarked,  it  was  not  usual  to  represent 
violent  action,  depicted  the  preparation  of  the  chariot 
race  between  Pelops  and  (Enomaus.  In  the  centre 
was  Zeus,  whose  torso  has  been  recovered,  and  at  the 
narrow  ends  of  the  field  were  figures  of  the  Alpheus 
and  Kladeus,  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  spectator 
respectively.  These  figures  are  partly  recovered — 
graceful  young  men  lying  forward  on  the  ground, 
and  raising  their  heads  to  witness  the  contest. 

It  is  worth  pausing  for  a moment  upon  this  dis- 
position, which  was  so  usual  as  to  be  almost  conven- 
tional in  the  pediments  sculptured  during  the  best 
epochs  of  Greek  art.  In  the  centre,  where  the  field 
was  very  high,  and  admitted  a colossal  figure,  it  was 
usual  to  place  the  god  whose  providence  guided  the 
events  around  him,  and  this  god  was  represented 
calm  and  without  excitement.  Then  came  the 
mythical  event  grouped  on  both  sides ; but  at  the 
ends,  where  the  field  narrowed  to  an  angle,  it  was 
usual  to  represent  the  calmness  or  impassiveness  of 
external  nature.  This  was  done  in  Greek  sculpture 
not  by  trees  and  hills,  but  by  the  gods  who  symbol- 
ized them.  So  thoroughly  was  nature  personified  in 
Greek  art,  that  its  picturesqueness  was  altogether 
postponed  to  its  living  conscious  sympathy  with 
man,  and  thus  to  a Greek  the  proper  representation 
of  the  rivers  of  Olympia  was  no  landscape,  but  the 
graceful  forms  of  the  river  gods — intelligent  and 
human,  yet  calm  spectators,  as  nature  is  wont  to  be. 


310 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


The  very  same  idea  is  carried  out  more  character- 
istically in  the  pediment  of  Alkamenes,  where,  in 
spite  of  the  violent  conflict  of  Centaurs  and  Lapithae, 
the  central  and  extreme  figures,  as  I shall  presently 
notice,  are  perfectly  unmoved  witnesses  of  lawless 
violence. 

The  arrangement  of  the  rest  of  the  eastern  pedi- 
ment was  evidently  quite  symmetrical.  On  Zeus’s 
right  hand  was  (Enomaus,  his  wife  Sterope,  his 
charioteer  Myrtilus  sitting  before  the  four  horses, 
and  two  grooms  j on  his  left,  Pelops,  Hippodamia, 
and  a like  number  of  horses  and  attendants.  A 
good  many  pieces  of  these  figures  have  been  found, 
sufficient  to  tempt  several  art-critics  to  make  con- 
jectural restorations  of  the  pediment,  one  of  which 
is  now  set  up,  I believe,  in  the  museum  at  Berlin. 

The  western  pediment,  of  which  more,  and  more 
striking,  fragments  are  recovered,  is  more  difficult 
to  restore,  because  Pausanias  is  unfortunately  not 
nearly  so  precise  in  describing  it,  and  because, 
moreover,  he  is  suspected  of  a serious  blunder  about 
the  central  figure.  Contrary  to  the  precedent  just 
mentioned,  he  says  that  this  central  figure  is  Pirith- 
ous,  whose  wife  is  just  being  carried  off  by  the 
Centaurs,  and  ought  therefore  to  be  in  violent  ex- 
citement. But  there  had  been  found,  just  before  we 
arrived  at  Olympia,  a colossal  head,  of  the  noblest 
conception,  which  seems  certainly  to  belong  to  the 
pediment  sculptures,  and  which  must  be  the  head  of 


PAUSANIAS’S  ACCOUNT. 


311 


this  central  figure.  It  is  perfectly  calm  and  divine 
in  expression,  and  almost  forces  upon  the  spectator 
the  conclusion  to  which  all  the  best  judges  lean,  that 
it  must  be  an  Apollo,  and  that  this  was  the  central 
figure,  while  Pirithous  was  more  actively  engaged. 
There  was  on  each  side  of  this  figure  a Centaur 
carrying  off,  the  one  a maiden  (I  suppose  the  bride) 
and  the  other  a boy,  and  Kseneus  and  Theseus  at 
each  side,  coming  to  the  rescue. 

But  on  the  other  figures  Pausanias  is  silent  j and 
there  were  certainly  two  beautiful  mountain  or  river 
nymphs  at  the  extremities — lying  figures,  with  a 
peculiar  head-dress  of  a thick  bandage  wrapped  all 
round  the  hair — which  are  among  the  most  perfect 
of  the  figures  recovered.  It  seems  also  certain  that 
Pirithous  must  have  been  somewhere  on  the  pedi- 
ment ; and  this  would  suggest  another  figure  to 
correspond  to  him  at  the  other  side,  for  these  groups 
were  always  symmetrical.  In  this  case  Pausanias 
has  omitted  four  figures  at  least  in  his  description, 
and  seems  to  have  besides  mistaken  the  largest  and 
most  important  of  all.  The  Germans  cite  in  proof 
of  these  strictures  his  passing  remark  on  the  Metopes, 
representing  the  labors  of  Herakles,  on  one  of  which 
was  (he  says)  Herakles  about  to  relieve  Atlas, 
whereas  this  slab,  which  has  been  found,  really 
represents  Herakles  carrying  the  globe,  and  one  of 
the  Hesperidse  assisting  him,  while  Atlas  is  bringing 
to  him  the  apple. 


312 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


This  criticism  will  seem  to  most  ordinary  people 
too  minute,  and  I am  rather  disposed  to  think  well 
of  Pausanias  as  an  intelligent  traveller,  though  he, 
of  course,  made  some  mistakes. 

But  since  the  above  words  were  written  sufficient 
time  has  elapsed  not  only  to  bring  the  excavations  to 
an  end,  but  to  study  more  carefully  the  recovered 
fragments,  and  offer  a calmer  judgment  as  to  their 
merits.  On  the  whole,  the  strong  feeling  of  the  best 
critics  has  been  one  of  disappointment.  The  design 
of  both  pediments  still  seems  to  me  masterly,  espe- 
cially that  of  Alkamenes,  but  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  execution  is  far  below  that  of  the  Parthenon 
marbles.  There  are  some  positive  faults — inability 
to  reproduce  drapery  (while  the  nude  parts  are  very 
true  to  nature),  and  great  want  of  care  in  other 
details.  It  must  be  urged  in  answer  that  the  pedi- 
ments were  meant  to  be  seen  about  forty  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  that  the  painting  of  the  figures 
must  have  brought  out  the  features  of  the  drapery 
neglected  in  the  carving.  However  true  this  may 
be,  we  can  answer  at  once  that  the  workmen  of 
Phidias  did  not  produce  this  kind  of  work.  The 
first  quality  of  the  Attic  school  was  that  conscien- 
tiousness in  detail  which  meets  us  in  every  great  age 
of  art. 

So  serious  have  these  difficulties  appeared  to  some, 
that  they  have  actually  suspected  Pausanias  of  being 
misled,  and  having  falsely  attributed  the  work  of 


THE  HERMES. 


313 


obscure  local  artists  to  Alkamenes,  and  perhaps  also 
falsely  to  Pseonius.  They  say  that  nothing  is  more 
common  with  vulgar  cicerones  than  to  attribute  to 
a great  master  any  old  work  of  uncertain  origin. 
Others,  who  will  not  proceed  to  such  extremes,  hold 
that  only  the  general  design  was  made  by  the  two 
sculptors,  and  its  execution  handed  over  to  local 
artists.  This  may  probably  have  been  the  case. 
But  I am  disposed  to  infer  from  the  overpraised 
Nike,  which  certainly  is  the  work  of  Pseonius,  that 
he  was  not  an  artist  of  the  quality  of  the  great  Attic 
school.1  The  whole  external  work  of  the  temple 
seems  to  represent  a stage  of  art  rather  earlier  and 
ruder  than  the  school  of  Phidias.  This  is  eminently 
the  case  with  the  Metopes,  which  can  hardly  be  later 
in  date  than  460  B.  c.,  or  pre-Phidian  in  time. 

Very  different  is  the  impression  produced  by  the 
greatest  and  most  priceless  gem  of  all  the  treasures 
at  Olympia — the  Hermes  of  Praxiteles,  which  was 
actually  found  on  the  very  spot  where  it  was  seen 
and  described  by  Pausanias,  fallen  among  the  ruins 
of  the  temple  which  originally  protected  it.  This 
exquisite  figure,  much  smaller  than  life-size,  repre- 
sents the  god  Hermes  holding  the  infant  Dionysus 
on  one  arm,  and  showing  the  child  some  object  now 
lost.  The  right  arm  and  the  legs  from  below  the 

1 The  student  who  desires  to  prosecute  this  difficult  subject 
should  study  Overbeck’ s History  of  Greek  Sculpture,  or  the  works 
of  Mr.  A.  S.  Murray,  or  Mr.  Copeland  Perry,  on  the  same  subject. 


314 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


knees  are  gone ; the  right  foot  with  its  sandal,  an 
exquisite  piece  of  work  with  traces  of  gold  and  red, 
has  been  recovered.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  back 
of  the  statue  is  unfinished,  and  the  child  treated 
rather  as  a doll  than  a human  infant ; the  main 
figure,  however,  now  widely  known  through  copies, 
is  the  most  perfect  remnant  of  Greek  art.  The 
temple  in  which  the  statue  was  found,  the  vener- 
able Herseon,  is  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  Olym- 
pian buildings  in  its  plan,  and  has  solved  for  us 
many  problems  in  Greek  architecture.  The  acute 
researches  of  Dr.  Dbrpfeld  have  shown  that  the 
walls  were  not  of  stone,  but  of  sun-dried  bricks, 
and  that  the  surrounding  pillars  had  gradually  re- 
placed older  wooden  pillars,  one  of  which  was  still 
there  when  Pausanias  saw  the  building.  The  suc- 
cessive stone  pillars  and  their  capitals  were  of  the 
same  order,  Doric,  but  varied  in  measurements  and 
profile  according  to  the  taste  of  the  day.  So  then 
this  ancient  building  showed,  like  our  English  cathe- 
drals, the  work  of  successive  centuries  in  its  resto- 
ration. The  roof  and  architrave  were  evidently  of 
wood,  for  all  trace  of  these  members  has  vanished ; 
but  we  learn  from  remains  of  the  old  u treasuries  ” 
described  by  Pausanias  that  in  very  old  times  wood 
and  mud  bricks  were  faced  with  colored  terra  cotta, 
moulded  to  the  required  form,  and  that  this  orna- 
ment was  still  used  after  stone  had  replaced  bricks 
and  mud  as  the  material  of  the  walls  and  architrave. 


SCULPTURE  AT  OLYMPIA. 


315 


These  curious  details,  and  many  others,  have  been 
the  main  result  of  the  architectural  inquiries  made 
by  the  Germans  into  the  archaic  buildings  at  Olym- 
pia ; but  it  would  be  tedious  to  the  reader  of  this 
book  were  I to  turn  aside  to  discuss  technical  details. 
He  will  find  them  all  put  with  great  clearness,  and 
indeed  with  elegance,  in  Botticher’s  Olympia.  The 
complete  results  of  the  excavations  are  now  to  be 
found  in  the  official  work  issued  by  the  German 
Government  on  the  explorations. 

Unfortunately,  there  only  remains  one  very  real- 
istic head  of  a boxer  from  a large  class  of  monu- 
ments at  Olympia,  that  of  the  portrait  statues  of 
victors  at  the  games,  of  which  one  was  even  attrib- 
uted to  Phidias,  and  several  to  Alkamenes,  in  Pau- 
sanias’s  time.  All  these  were  votive  statues,  set  up 
by  victors  at  the  games,  or  victors  in  war,  and  in 
the  early  times  were  not  portraits  strictly  speaking, 
but  ideal  figures.  Later  on  they  became  more  real- 
istic, and  were  made  in  the  likeness  of  the  offerer,  a 
privilege  said  at  one  time  only  to  have  been  accorded 
to  those  who  had  won  thrice  at  Olympia. 

The  commemoration  of  gymnastic  victories  by 
these  statues  seems  to  have  completely  supplanted 
the  older  fashion  of  triumphal  odes,  which  in  Pin- 
dar’s day  were  so  prized,  and  so  dearly  bought  from 
lyric  poets.  When  these  odes  first  came  to  be  com- 
posed, sculpture  was  still  struggling  with  the  dif- 
ficulties of  human  expression,  and  there  was  no  one 


316 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


who  would  not  feel  the  great  artistic  superiority  of 
Pindar’s  verse  to  the  cold  stiffness  of  the  archaic 
reliefs  of  the  same  epoch,  which  attempt  portraiture. 
The  portrait  of  Aristion  by  Aristokles,  the  similar 
relief  by  Anxenor  the  Naxian,  and  the  relief  of  the 
discus  thrower,  are  sufficient  examples  of  what  sculp- 
tured portraits  were  in  comparison  with  the  rich 
music  of  Simonides  and  Pindar.  But  while  lyric 
poetry  passed  into  the  higher  service  of  tragedy,  or 
degenerated  into  the  extravagance  of  the  later 
dithyramb,  sculpture  grew  into  such  exquisite  per- 
fection, and  was  of  its  very  nature  so  enduring  and 
manifest,  that  the  Olympic  victor  choose  it  as  the 
surest  avenue  to  immortal  fame.  And  so  it  was  up 
to  Pausanias’s  day,  when  every  traveller  could  study 
the  records  of  the  games  at  Olympia,  or  even  admire 
the  most  perfect  of  the  statues  in  the  palaces  of 
Roman  Emperors,  whither  they  were  transferred. 

But  the  day  came  when  the  poets  were  avenged 
upon  the  sculptors.  Olympia  sank  under  general 
decay  and  sudden  catastrophe.  Earthquakes  and 
barbarians  ravaged  its  treasury,  and  while  Pindar 
was  being  preserved  in  manuscript,  until  his  resur- 
rection in  the  days  of  printing,  the  invasion  of  the 
Kladeus  saved  the  scanty  remains  in  the  Altis  from 
destruction  only  by  covering  them  with  oblivion. 
Now,  in  the  day  of  its  resurrection,  pedestal  after 
pedestal  with  its  votive  inscription  has  been  un- 
earthed, but,  except  the  Nike  of  Pajonius,  no  actual 


SCULPTURE  AT  OLYMPIA. 


317 


votive  statue  had  been  recovered  when  I saw  the 
excavations,  after  two  years  of  labor. 

The  river  Alpheus,  which  has  done  such  excel- 
lent work  in  its  inundations,  does  not  confine  itself 
to  concealing  antiquities,  but  sometimes  discovers 
them.  Its  rapid  course  eats  away  the  alluvial  bank 
which  the  waters  have  deposited  ages  ago,  and  thus 
encroaches  upon  old  tombs,  from  which  various  relics 
are  washed  down  in  its  turbid  stream.  The  famous 
helmet  dedicated  by  Hiero,  son  of  Deinomenes,  was 
discovered  in  the  river  in  this  way ; and  there  is 
also  in  the  Ministry  of  Public  Instruction  a large 
circular  band  of  bronze,  riveted  together  where  the 
ends  meet,  with  very  archaic  zigzag  and  linear  pat- 
terns, which  was  found  in  the  same  way  some  twenty 
years  ago,  and  which  seems  to  me  of  great  interest, 
as  exhibiting  a kind  of  workmanship  akin  to  the 
decorations  in  the  Schliemann  treasure  of  Mycenae. 
There  is  also  a rude  red  earthen  pot  in  the  Turkish 
house  on  the  Acropolis  at  Athens,  which  is  deco- 
rated with  the  same  kind  of  lines.  It  is  very  im- 
portant to  point  out  these  resemblances  to  travellers, 
for  there  is  such  endless  detail  in  Greek  antiquities, 
and  so  little  has  yet  been  classified,  that  every  ob- 
servation may  be  of  use  to  future  students,  even 
though  it  may  merely  serve  as  a hint  for  closer 
research. 

The  Stadium  and  Hippodrome,  which  lie  farther 
away  from  the  river,  and  right  under  the  conical 


318 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


hill  called  Kronion,  have  not  yet,  I believe,  been 
completely  investigated ; but  they  may  no  doubt 
offer  us  some  new  and  interesting  evidences  on  the 
management  of  the  famous  Olympian  games. 

These  games  were  not  at  all  what  most  people 
imagine  them  to  be.  I will,  therefore,  delay  the 
reader  with  some  details  concerning  this  most  inter- 
esting side  of  old  Greek  life. 

The  establishment  of  games  at  Olympia  was 
assigned  by  the  poets  to  mythical  ages,  and  not 
only  is  there  a book  of  the  Iliad  devoted  to  funeral 
games,  but  in  Pindar’s  eleventh  Olympic  Ode  this 
particular  establishment  is  made  coeval  with  the 
labors  of  Herakles.  Whether  such  evidence  is 
indeed  conclusive  may  fairly  be  doubted.  The 
twenty-third  book  of  the  Iliad,  which  shows  traces 
of  being  a later  portion  of  the  poem,  describes  con- 
tests widely  differing  from  those  at  Olympia-  and 
the  mythical  founders  enumerated  by  Pausanias 
(v.  7)  are  so  various  and  inconsistent  that  we  can 
see  how  obscure  the  question  appeared  to  Greek 
archaeologists,  even  did  we  not  find  at  the  end  of 
the  enumeration  the  following  significant  hint : — 
“ But  after  Oxylus — for  Oxylus,  too,  established 
the  contest — after  his  reign  it  fell  out  of  use  till 
the  Olympiad  of  Iphitus,”  that  is  to  say,  till  the 
first  01.,  which  is  dated  776  B.  C.,  Oxylus  being 
the  companion  of  the  Herakleidae,  who  obtained 
Elis  for  his  portion.  Pausanias  adds  that  when 


Kronion  Hill,  Olympia 


THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES. 


319 


Iphitus  renewed  the  contest,  men  had  forgotten  the 
old  arrangements,  and  only  gradually  came  to  remem- 
ber them , and  whenever  they  recollected  any  special 
competition  they  added  it  to  the  games.  This  is 
the  excellent  man’s  theory  to  account  for  the  grad- 
ual addition  of  long  races,  of  wrestling,  discus 
throwing,  boxing,  and  chariot  racing,  to  the  orig- 
inal sprint  race  of  about  200  yards,  which  was  at 
first  the  only  known  competition. 

The  facts  seem  to  me  rather  to  point  to  the  late 
growth  of  games  in  Greece,  which  may  possibly 
have  begun  as  a local  feast  at  Olympia  in  the  eighth 
century,  but  which  only  rose  to  importance  during 
the  reign  of  the  despots  throughout  Greece,  when 
the  aristocrats  were  prevented  from  murdering  one 
another,  and  compelled  to  adopt  more  peaceful  pur- 
suits.1 It  was  in  the  end  of  the  seventh  and  opening 
of  the  sixth  centuries  that  the  Pythian,  Nemean, 
and  Isthmian  games  show  by  their  successive  estab- 
lishments the  rapid  spread  of  the  fashion,  and  a vast 
number  of  local  contests  diffused  through  every  dis- 
trict in  Greece  the  taste  and  the  training  for  such 
competitions.2  These  games  lasted  all  through  clas- 

1 The  fact  that  some  of  these  public  meetings  are  associated 
with  the  fall  of  tyrants  does  not,  I think,  disprove  what  is  here 
advanced. 

2 I have  not  room  here  to  give  in  full  my  reasons  for  rejecting 
the  earlier  part  of  the  Olympic  register,  as  being  the  manufacture 
of  Hippias  of  Elis,  later  than  400  b.  c.  But  the  reader  who  is 
curious  on  the  subject  may  either  consult  my  article  in  the  Journal 


320 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sical  Greek  history — the  Olympian  even  down  to 
later  times,  for  they  were  not  abolished  till  nearly 
1200  years  (01.  294)  had  elapsed  since  their  alleged 
foundation.  But  the  day  of  their  real  greatness  was 
gone  long  before.  Cicero  indignantly  repudiates 
the  report  that  he  had  gone  to  see  such  games,  just 
as  a pious  earl,  within  our  memory,  repudiated  the 
report  that  he  had  attended  the  prize-tight  between 
Sayers  and  Heenan.  The  good  generals  of  earlier 
centuries,  such  as  Alexander  the  Great  and  Philo- 
pcemen,  set  their  faces  against  athletics  as  bad  train- 
ing for  soldiers.  Nay,  even  earlier,  the  Spartans, 
though  they  could  contend  with  success  in  the  pen- 
tathlon, when  they  choose,  did  not  countenance  the 
fiercer  competitions,  as  engendering  bad  feeling  be- 
tween rivals,  and,  what  was  worse,  compelling  a 
man  to  declare  himself  vanquished,  and  feel  dis- 
graced. The  Athenians  also,  as  soon  as  the  sophists 
reformed  education,  began  to  rate  intellectual  wrest- 
ling as  far  superior  to  any  bodily  exercise.  Thus 
the  supremacy  of  Athens  and  Sparta  over  the  other 

of  Hellenic  Studies  for  1881,  or  the  appendix  to  my  Problems  in 
Greek  History  (1892).  He  will  then  see  that  there  is  no  direct 
evidence  whatever  for  any  early  list,  and  that  the  antiquarian 
Pausanias,  in  his  hunt  after  ancient  monuments  at  Olympia, 
could  find  nothing  earlier  than  the  so-called  33d  Olympiad.  Plu- 
tarch, moreover,  in  the  opening  of  his  Life  of  Numa , tells  us 
plainly  that  the  list  was  the  manufacture  of  Hippias,  and  based 
on  no  trustworthy  evidence.  To  accept  the  list,  therefore,  in  the  face 
of  these  objections,  is  to  exhibit  culpable  credulity. 


THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES 


321 


Greek  cities  in  the  fifth  century  marked,  in  my 
opinion,  the  real  turning-point  in  the  Greek  esti- 
mate of  athletics,  and  the  fact  that  the  great  odes 
of  Pindar  sing  the  glories  of  no  Spartan,  and  only 
twice,  very  briefly,  those  of  Athenians,  seems  to 
indicate  that  even  then  men  began  to  think  of  more 
serious  rivalries  and  more  exciting  spectacles  than 
the  festive  meetings  at  Olympia.  In  the  very  next 
generation  the  poets  had  drifted  away  from  them, 
and  Euripides  despises  rather  than  admires  them. 
The  historians  take  little  notice  of  them. 

Two  circumstances  only  tended  strongly  to  keep 
them  up.  In  the  first  place,  musical  competitions 
(which  had  always  been  a part  of  the  Pythian)  and 
poetical  rivalries  were  added  to  the  sports,  which 
were  also  made  the  occasion  of  mercantile  business, 
of  social  meetings,  and  not  seldom  of  political  agita- 
tion. The  wise  responses  of  the  Delphic  oracle 
were  not  a little  indebted  to  the  information  gath- 
ered from  all  parts  of  the  Hellenic  world  at  the 
games,  some  important  celebration  of  which,  whether 
at  Nemea,  the  Isthmus,  or  the  greater  meetings, 
occurred  every  year. 

Secondly,  if  the  art  of  poetry  soon  devoted  itself 
to  the  higher  objects  of  tragedy,  and  created  for 
itself  the  conflict  which  it  celebrated,  the  art  of 
sculpture  became  so  closely  connected  with  athletics 
as  to  give  them  an  aesthetic  importance  of  the  high- 
est kind  all  through  Greek  history.  The  ancient 
21 


322 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


habit  of  setting  up  ideal  statues  of  victors,  which 
were  made  special  likenesses  if  the  subject  was  spe- 
cially distinguished,  supplied  the  Greeks  with  a 
series  of  historical  monuments  and  a series  of  phys- 
ical types  not  elsewhere  to  be  matched,  and  thus 
perhaps  the  most  interesting  part  of  Pausanias’s 
invaluable  guide-book  to  Greece  is  his  collection  of 
notes  (lib.  vi.,  1-20)  on  various  statues  set  up  in 
this  way  at  Olympia,  of  which  he  mentions  about 
two  hundred,  though  he  only  professes  to  make  a 
selection,  and  though  several  of  the  finest  had  already 
been  carried  off  by  Roman  emperors. 

These  things  kept  alive  the  athletic  meetings  in 
Greece,  and  even  preserved  for  them  some  celebrity. 
The  sacred  truce  proclaimed  during  the  national 
games  was  of  inestimable  convenience  in  times  of 
long  and  bitter  hostilities,  and  doubtless  enabled 
friends  to  meet  who  had  else  been  separated  for 
life.1  But  the  Panathenaic  festivals  were  better 
exponents  of  fourth  century  taste  in  Greece.  There 
music  and  the  drama  predominated.  Professional 
displays  became  equally  admired  as  a pastime  and 
despised  as  a profession  5 and  I have  no  doubt  that 
the  atldete  who  spent  his  life  going  about  from  one 
contest  to  another  in  search  of  gymnastic  triumphs 

1 So  also  under  the  early  Roman  Empire  the  exiles  on  the 
barren  islands  of  the  ^Egean  seem  to  have  been  allowed  this  indul- 
gence. Cf.  the  curious  passage  from  Plutarch  I have  quoted  and 
explained  in  my  Greek  World  under  Roman  Sway , p.  261. 


THE  OLYMPIC  GAMES. 


323 


was  held  in  like  contempt  by  Brasidas  and  by  Cleon, 
by  Xenophon  and  by  Agesilaus. 

In  the  days  of  Solon  things  had  been  very  dif- 
ferent. He  appointed  a reward  of  500  drachmas, 
then  a very  large  sum,  for  victors  at  Olympia,  100 
for  those  at  the  Isthmus,  and  for  the  others  in  propor- 
tion. Pindar  sings  as  if,  to  the  aristocrats  of  iEgina, 
or  the  tyrants  of  Sicily,  no  higher  earthly  prizes  were 
attainable.  But  we  must  not  transfer  these  evidences 
— the  habit  or  the  echo  of  the  sixth  century  B.  c. — 
to  the  days  of  political  and  educated  Greece,  when 
public  opinion  altered  very  considerably  on  the  ad- 
vantage and  value  of  physical  competition.  This 
being  once  understood,  I will  proceed  to  a short 
analysis  of  the  sports,  and  will  attempt  to  criticise 
the  methods  adopted  by  the  old  Greeks  to  obtain  the 
highest  physical  condition,  the  nature  of  the  com- 
petitions they  established,  and  the  results  which  they 
appear  to  have  attained. 

The  Greeks  of  Europe  seem  always  to  have  been 
aware  that  physical  exercise  was  of  the  greatest  im- 
portance for  health,  and  consequently  for  mental 
vigor,  and  the  earliest  notices  we  have  of  education 
include  careful  bodily  training.  Apart  from  the 
games  of  children,  which  were  much  the  same  as 
ours,  there  was  not  only  orchestic  or  rhythmical  danc- 
ing in  graceful  figures,  in  which  girls  took  part,  and 
which  corresponded  to  what  are  now  vulgarly  called 
callisthenics , but  also  gymnastics,  in  which  boys  were 


324 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


trained  to  those  exercises  which  they  afterward 
practised  as  men.  In  addition  to  the  palcestras , 
which  were  kept  for  the  benefit  of  boys  as  a matter 
of  private  speculation  in  Athens,  and  probably  in 
other  towns,  regular  gymnasia  were  established  by 
the  civic  authorities,  and  put  under  strict  supervision 
as  state  institutions  to  prevent  either  idleness  or  im- 
morality.1 In  these  gymnasia,  where  young  men 
came  in  the  afternoon,  stripped,  oiled  themselves, 
and  then  got  a coat  of  dust  or  fine  sand  over  the 
skin,  running,  wrestling,  boxing,  jumping,  and 
throwing  with  the  dart  were  commonly  practised. 

This  sort  of  physical  training  I conceive  to  have 
grown  up  with  the  growth  of  towns,  and  with  the 
abandonment  of  hunting  and  marauding,  owing  to 
the  increase  of  culture.  Among  the  aristocrats  of 
epical  days,  as  well  as  among  the  Spartans,  who 
lived  a village  life,  surrounded  by  forest  and  moun- 
tain, I presume  field  sports  must  have  been  quite  the 
leading  amusement ; nor  ought  competitions  in  a 
gymnasium  to  be  compared  for  one  moment  to  this 
far  higher  and  more  varied  recreation.  The  con- 
trast still  subsists  among  us,  and  our  fox-hunting, 
salmon-fishing,  grouse-shooting  country  gentleman 
has  the  same  inestimable  advantage  over  the  city 

1 The  very  stringent  laws  quoted  by  ASschines  in  Timarchum 
may  possibly  be  spurious,  since  we  know  from  other  allusions  that 
they  were  not  enforced.  But  more  probably  they  existed  as  a 
dead  letter,  which  could  be  revived  if  occasion  required. 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


325 


athlete,  whose  special  training  for  a particular  event 
has  a necessary  tendency  to  lower  him  into  a pro- 
fessional. There  is  even  a danger  of  some  fine 
exercises,  which  seemed  common  ground  for  both, 
such  as  boating  and  cricket,  being  vulgarized  by 
the  invasion  of  this  professional  spirit,  which  implies 
such  attention  to  the  body  as  to  exclude  higher  pur- 
suits, and  which  rewards  by  special  victories,  and  by 
public  applause  rather  than  by  the  intrinsic  pleasure 
of  sport  for  its  own  sake.  Thus  the  Spartans  not 
only  objected  to  boxing  and  the  pankration,  in  which 
the  defeated  competitor  might  have  to  ask  for  mercy ; 
they  even  for  general  purposes  preferred  field-sports, 
for  which  they  had  ample  opportunities,  to  any 
special  competitions  in  the  strength  of  particular 
muscles.  But  in  such  places  as  Athens  and  its 
neighborhood,  where  close  cultivation  had  caused  all 
wild  country  and  all  game  to  disappear,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  supply  the  place  of  country  sport  by  the 
training  of  the  gymnasium.  This  sort  of  exercise 
naturally  led  to  contests,  so  that  for  our  purpose  we 
need  not  separate  gymnastic  and  agonistic , but  may 
use  the  details  preserved  about  the  latter  to  tell  us 
how  the  Greeks  practised  the  former. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  pursuit  of  high  mus- 
cular condition  was  early  associated  with  that  of 
health,  and  that  hygiene  and  physical  training  were 
soon  discovered  to  be  closely  allied.  Thus  Herodi- 
cus,  a trainer,  who  was  also  an  invalid,  was  said  to 


326 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


have  discovered  from  his  own  case  the  method  of 
treating  disease  by  careful  diet  and  regimen,  and  to 
have  thus  contributed  to  the  advancement  of  Greek 
medicine.  Pausanias  also  mentions  (vi.  3,  9)  the 
case  of  a certain  Hysmon,  an  Elean,  who,  when  a 
boy,  had  rheumatism  in  his  limbs,  and  on  this 
account  practised  for  the  pentathlon,  that  he  might 
become  a healthy  and  sound  man.  His  training 
made  him  not  only  sound,  but  a celebrated  victor. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  know  in  detail 
what  rules  the  Greeks  prescribed  for  this  purpose. 
Pausanias  tells  us  (vi.  7,  9)  that  a certain  Dromeus, 
who  won  ten  victories  in  long  races  at  various 
games  (about  01.  74,  485  b.  c.),  was  the  first  who 
thought  of  eating  meat  in  his  training,  for  that  up 
to  that  time  the  diet  of  athletes  had  been  cheese 
from  wicker  baskets  (ex  rcov  zaXdpcov)}  It  must  be 
remembered  that  meat  diet  was  not  common  among 
the  Greeks,  who,  like  most  southern  people,  lived 
rather  upon  fish,  fruit,  and  vegetables,  so  that  the 
meat  dinners  of  Bceotia  were  censured  as  heavy  and 
rather  disgusting.  However,  the  discovery  of 

1 The  modern  Greeks  make  their  cheese  for  keeping,  even  now, 
in  wicker  baskets,  and  distinguish  it  from  rvpoc,  which  now 

means  cream  cheese,  and  which  they  carry  to  market  in  woollen 
bags.  There  was  a special  market  for  it  in  Athens  in  Aristo- 
phanes’s day,  but  not  in  woollen  bags;  for,  as  Mr.  Pickering  (of 
Shrewsbury  School)  pointed  out  to  me,  the  cream  cheese  of  Aristo- 
phanes’s day  was  kept  in  wicker  work.  I gladly  here  acknowl- 
edge this  correction  of  the  note  in  my  former  edition. 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


327 


Dromeus  was  adopted  by  Greek  athletes  ever  after, 
and  we  hear  of  their  compulsory  meals  of  large 
quantities  of  meat,  and  their  consequent  sleepiness 
and  sluggishness  in  ordinary  life,  in  such  a way  as 
to  make  us  believe  that  the  Greeks  had  missed  the 
real  secret  of  training,  and  actually  thought  that  the 
more  strong  nutriment  a man  could  take,  the  stronger 
he  would  become.  The  quantity  eaten  by  athletes 
is  universally  spoken  of  as  far  exceeding  the  quantity 
eaten  by  ordinary  men,  not  to  speak  of  its  heavier 
quality. 

The  suspicion  that,  in  consequence,  Greek  athletic 
performances  were  not  in  speed  greater  than,  if  even 
equal  to,  our  own,  is  however  hard  to  verify,  as  we 
are  without  any  information  as  to  the  time  in  which 
their  running  feats  were  performed.  They  had  no 
watches,  or  nice  measures  of  short  moments  of  time, 
and  always  ran  races  merely  to  see  who  would  win, 
not  to  see  in  how  short  a time  a given  distance 
could  be  done.  Nevertheless,  as  the  course  was 
over  soft  sand,  and  as  the  vases  picture  them  rush- 
ing along  in  spread-eagle  fashion,  with  their  arms 
like  the  sails  of  a windmill — in  order  to  aid  the 
motion  of  their  bodies,  as  the  Germans  explain  (after 
Philostratos) — nay,  as  we  even  hear  of  their  having 
started  shouting,  if  we  can  believe  such  a thing, 
their  time  performances  in  running  must  have  been 
decidedly  poor.1 

1 I should,  however,  call  attention  to  an  exceptional  vase  in  the 


328 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


In  the  Olympic  games  the  running,  which  had 
originally  been  the  only  competition,  always  came 
first.  The  distance  was  once  up  the  course,  and 
seems  to  have  been  about  200  yards.  After  the 
year  720  B.  C.  (?)  races  of  double  the  course,  and 
long  races  of  about  3000  yards  were  added  j 1 races 
in  armor  were  a later  addition,  and  came  at  the  end 
of  the  sports.  It  is  remarkable  that  among  all  these 
varieties  hurdle  races  were  unknown,  though  the 
long  jump  was  assigned  a special  place,  and  thought 
very  important.  We  have  several  extraordinary 
anecdotes  of  endurance  in  running  long  journeys 
cited  throughout  Greek  history,  and  even  now  the 
modern  inhabitants  are  remarkable  for  this  quality. 
I have  seen  a young  man  keep  up  with  a horse 
ridden  at  a good  pace  across  rough  country  for  many 
miles,  and  have  been  told  that  the  Greek  postmen 
are  quite  wonderful  for  their  speed  and  lasting.  But 
this  is  compatible  with  very  poor  performances  at 
prize  meetings. 


little  Turkish  house  on  the  Acropolis,  probably  of  late  date,  in 
which  a runner  is  represented  with  his  elbows  back  and  hands 
closed,  and  near  his  sides,  in  very  good  form. 

1 Pausanias  is  responsible  for  the  date,  which  he  probably  copied 
from  Hippias  of  Elis.  It  is  noted  as  a special  wonder  that  the 
same  man  should  win  the  sprint  and  long  races  at  Olympia,  which 
shows  that  the  latter  must  have  been  mainly  a test  of  staying 
power.  The  Spartan  Ladas  died  at  the  winning-post,  and  this 
endurance  was  thought  rather  a wonderful  feat,  but  of  course  his 
death  may  have  resulted  from  bad  training,  or  from  heart  disease. 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


329 


There  were  short  races  for  boys  at  Olympia  of 
half  the  course.  Eighteen  years  was  beyond  the 
limit  of  age  for  competing,  as  a story  in  Pausanias 
implies,  and  a boy  who  won  at  the  age  of  twelve 
was  thought  wonderfully  young.  The  same  author- 
ity tells  us  of  a man  who  won  the  sprint  race  at  four 
successive  meetings,  thus  keeping  up  his  pace  for 
sixteen  years — a remarkable  case.  There  seems  to 
have  been  no  second  prize  in  any  of  the  historical 
games,  a natural  consequence  of  the  abolition  of 
material  rewards.1  There  was,  naturally,  a good 
deal  of  chance  in  the  course  of  the  contest,  and 
Pausanias  evidently  knew  cases  where  the  winner 
was  not  the  best  man.  For  example,  the  races  were 
run  in  heats  of  four,  and  if  there  was  an  odd  man 
over,  the  owner  of  the  last  lot  drawn  could  sit  down 
till  the  winners  of  the  heats  were  declared,  and  then 
run  against  them  without  any  previous  fatigue.  The 
limitation  of  each  heat  to  four  competitors  arose,  I 
fancy,  from  their  not  wearing  colors  (or  even  clothes), 
and  so  not  being  easily  distinguishable.  They  were 
accordingly  walked  into  the  arena  through  an  under- 
ground passage  in  the  raised  side  of  the  stadium, 
and  the  name  and  country  of  each  proclaimed  in 
order  by  a herald.  This  practice  is  accurately 

1 “Know  ye  not,”  says  St.  Paul,  “that  all  run,  and  one  re- 
ceiveth  the  crown?” — a quite  different  condition  of  things  from 
that  of  the  Iliad,  where  every  competitor,  like  the  boys  at  a private 
school,  comes  off  with  a prize. 


330 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


copied  in  the  present  Olympic  games  held  at  Athens 
every  four  years. 

The  next  event  was  the  wrestling  match,  which  is 
out  of  fashion  at  our  prize  meetings,  though  still  a 
favorite  sport  in  many  country  districts.  There  is  a 
very  ample  terminology  for  the  various  tricks  and 
devices  in  this  contest,  and  they  have  been  explained 
with  much  absurdity  by  scholiasts,  both  ancient  and 
modern.  It  seems  that  it  was  not  always  enough  to 
throw  your  adversary,1  but  that  an  important  part 
of  the  sport  was  the  getting  uppermost  on  the 
ground ; and  in  no  case  was  a man  declared  beaten 
till  he  was  thrown  three  times,  and  was  actually  laid 
on  his  back.  It  is  not  worth  while  enumerating  the 
various  technical  terms,  but  it  may  be  observed  that 
a good  deal  of  what  we  should  call  foul  play  was 
tolerated.  There  was  no  kicking,  such  as  there 
used  to  be  in  wrestling  matches  in  Ireland,  because 
there  were  no  boots,  but  Pausanias  mentions  (vi.  4, 
3)  a man  who  did  not  know  how  to  wrestle,  but  de- 
feated his  opponents  by  breaking  their  fingers.  We 
shall  return  to  this  point  when  speaking  of  the  panic- 
ration. 

When  the  wrestling  was  over  there  followed  the 
throwing  of  the  discus  and  the  dart,  and  the  long 
leap,  but  in  what  order  is  uncertain ; for  I cannot 

1 Possibly  this  special  sort  of  wrestling  has  been  confused  with 
the  pankraiion , from  which  it  can  have  differed  but  little,  if  it 
indeed  subsisted  permanently  as  a distinct  form  of  wrestling. 


Entrance  to  the  Stadium,  Olympia 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


331 


accept  as  evidence  the  pentameter  line  of  Simonides, 
which  enumerates  the  games  of  the  pentathlon,  see- 
ing that  it  would  be  impossible  to  vary  them  from  the 
order  he  gives  without  great  metrical  difficulties. 
Our  only  safe  guide  is,  I think,  the  date  of  the 
origin  of  each  kind  of  competition,  as  it  was  plainly 
the  habit  of  the  Greeks  to  place  the  new  event  next 
after  those  already  established.  The  sole  exception 
to  this  is  in  the  establishing  of  contests  for  boys, 
which  seem  always  to  have  come  immediately  be- 
fore the  corresponding  competition  for  men.  But 
we  are  only  told  that  both  wrestling  and  the  contest 
of  five  events  (pentathlon)  dated  from  the  18th  01. 
(710  B.  c.),  and  are  not  informed  in  what  order  each 
was  appointed.1 

The  discus-throwing  was  mainly  to  test  distance, 
but  the  dart-throwing  to  strike  a mark.  The  discus 
was  either  of  stone  or  of  metal,  and  was  very  heavy. 
I infer  from  the  attitude  of  Myron’s  discobolus,  as 
seen  in  our  copies,  that  it  was  thrown  without  a pre- 
liminary run,  and  rather  hurled  standing.  This  con- 
test is  to  be  compared  with  our  hammer-throwing, 
or  putting  of  weights.  We  are,  however,  without 
any  accurate  information  either  as  to  the  average 
weight  of  the  discus,  or  the  average  distance  which 
a good  man  could  throw  it.  There  is,  indeed,  one 
ancient  specimen  extant,  which  was  found  at  TEgina, 

1 The  single  competitions  in  running  and  wrestling  were  distinct 
from  those  in  the  pentathlon,  and  rewarded  by  separate  crowns. 


332 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


and  is  now  preserved  among  the  bronze  antiquities 
at  Munich.  It  is  about  eight  inches  in  diameter, 
and  something  under  four  pounds  in  weight.  But 
there  seem  to  have  been  three  sizes  of  discus,  ac- 
cording as  they  were  intended  for  boys,  for  grown 
youths  (aydvetoi),  or  for  men,  and  it  is  not  certain  to 
which  class  this  discus  belongs.  Philostratos  men- 
tions one  hundred  cubits  as  a fine  throw,  but  in  such 
a way  as  to  make  it  doubtful  whether  he  is  not  talk- 
ing at  random  and  in  round  numbers.  Similarly, 
we  have  no  details  concerning  the  javelin  contest. 
But  I suspect  that  here,  if  anywhere,  the  Greeks 
could  do  what  we  cannot ; for  the  savages  of  to-day, 
who  use  spears,  can  throw  them  with  a force  and 
accuracy  which  is  to  us  quite  surprising.  It  is  re- 
ported by  trustworthy  travellers  that  a Kaffir  who 
comes  suddenly  on  game  will  put  a spear  right  into 
an  antelope  at  ten  or  twelve  yards’  distance  by  an 
underhand  chuck,  without  taking  time  to  raise  his 
arm.  This  is  beyond  the  ability  of  any  English 
athlete,  however  trained. 

The  question  of  the  long  jump  is  more  interesting, 
as  it  still  forms  a part  of  our  contests.  It  is  not  certain 
whether  the  old  Greeks  practised  the  running  jump, 
or  the  high  jump,  for  we  never  hear  of  a preliminary 
start,  or  of  any  difficulty  about  “ breaking  trig,”  as 
people  now  call  it.  Furthermore,  an  extant  epigram 
on  a celebrated  athlete,  Phayllus  of  Kroton,  asserts 
that  he  jumped  clean  over  the  prepared  ground  (which 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


338 


was  broken  with  a spade)  on  to  the  hard  ground 
beyond — a distance  of  forty-nine  feet.  We  cannot, 
of  course,  though  some  German  professors  believe 
it,  credit  this  feat,  if  it  were  a single  long  jump,  yet 
we  can  find  no  trace  of  anything  like  a hop,  step,  and 
jump,  so  that  it  seems  wonderful  how  such  an  ab- 
surdity should  be  gravely  repeated  in  an  epigram. 
But  the  exploit  became  proverbial,  and  to  leap  uTzkp 
ra  axa/i/iaza  (beyond  the  digging)  was  a constantly 
repeated  phrase. 

The  length  of  Phayllus’s  leap  would  be  even  more 
incredible  if  the  competition  was  in  a standing  jump, 
and  yet  the  figures  of  athletes  on  vases  which  I have 
seen  strongly  favor  this  supposition.  They  are  rep- 
resented not  as  running,  but  as  standing  and  swing- 
ing the  dumb-bells  or  (jumpers),  which  were 

always  used  by  the  older  Greeks,  as  assisting  them 
materially  in  increasing  their  distance.  I can  imag- 
ine this  being  the  case  in  a standing  jump  where  a 
man  rose  with  the  forward  swing  of  the  weights,  but 
in  a running  jump  the  carrying  of  the  weights  must 
surely  impede  rather  than  assist  him.  I know  that 
Irish  peasants,  who  take  off  very  heavy  boots  to 
jump,  often  carry  one  in  each  hand,  and  throw  them 
backward  violently  as  they  rise  from  the  ground ; 
but  this  principle  is  not  admitted  so  far  as  I know, 
by  any  scientific  authority,  as  of  the  slightest  assist- 
ance. 

We  hear  of  no  vaulting  or  jumping  with  a pole, 


334 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


so  that  in  fact  the  leap  seems  an  isolated  contest,  and 
of  little  interest  except  as  determining  one  of  the 
events  of  the  pentathlon,  in  which  a man  must  win 
three  in  order  to  be  declared  victor.  This  pentath- 
lon, as  comprising  gentlemanly  exercise  without 
much  brutality,  was  especially  patronized  by  the 
Spartans.  It  was  attempted  for  boys,  but  immediately 
abandoned,  the  strain  being  thought  excessive  for 
growing  constitutions. 

There  remain  the  two  severest  and  most  objec- 
tionable sports — boxing  and  the  pankration.  The 
former  came  first  (01.  23),  the  other  test  of  strength 
not  being  admitted  till  01.  33  (650  B.  c.).  But  one 
special  occasion  is  mentioned  when  a champion,  who 
was  competing  in  both,  persuaded  the  judges  to 
change  the  order,  that  he  might  not  have  to  contend 
against  a specially  famous  antagonist  when  already 
wounded  and  bruised.  For  boxing  was,  even  from 
Homeric  times,  a very  dangerous  and  bloody  amuse- 
ment, in  which  the  vanquished  were  always  severely 
punished.  The  Greeks  were  not  content  with  naked 
fists,  but  always  used  a special  apparatus,  called 
i/idvrez,  which  consisted  at  first  of  a weight  carried 
in  the  hand,  and  fastened  by  thongs  of  hide  round 
the  hand  and  wrist.  But  this  ancient  cestus  came 
to  be  called  the  gentle  kind  ^(LeiXiyat)  when  a later 
and  more  brutal  invention  introduced  u sharp  thongs 
on  the  wrist,”  and  probably  increased  the  weight  of 
the  instrument.  The  successful  boxer  in  the  Iliad 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


335 


(Epeius)  confesses  that  he  is  a bad  warrior,  though 
he  is  the  acknowledged  champion  in  his  own  line ; 
but  evidently  this  sport  was  not  highly  esteemed  in 
epic  days.  In  historical  times  it  seems  to  have  been 
more  favored.  There  was  no  doubt  a great  deal  of 
skill  required  for  it,  but  I think  the  body  of  the  evi- 
dence goes  to  prove  that  the  Greeks  did  not  box  on 
sound  principles,  and  that  any  prominent  member 
of  the  P.  R.  with  his  naked  fists  would  have  easily 
settled  any  armed  champion  of  Olympian  fame. 
Here  are  my  reasons : 

The  principle  of  increasing  the  weight  of  the  fist 
as  much  as  possible  is  only  to  be  explained  by  the 
habit  of  dealing  swinging  or  downward  strokes,  and 
is  incompatible  with  the  true  method  of  striking 
straight  home  quickly,  and  giving  weight  to  the 
stroke  by  sending  the  whole  body  with  it.  In  Vergil’s 
description  a boxer  is  even  described  getting  up  on 
tip-toe  to  strike  his  adversary  on  the  top  of  the  head 
— a ridiculous  manoeuvre,  which  must  make  his  in- 
stant ruin  certain,  if  his  opponent  knew  the  first 
elements  of  the  art.  That  this  downward  stroke 
was  used  appears  also  from  the  anecdote  in  Pau- 
sanias,  where  a father  seeing  his  son,  who  was 
ploughing,  drive  in  the  share  which  had  fallen  out 
with  strokes  of  his  fist,  without  a hammer,  immedi- 
ately entered  him  for  the  boys’  boxing  match  at 
Olympia.  The  lad  got  roughly  handled  from  want 
of  skill,  and  seemed  likely  to  lose,  when  the  father 


336 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


called  out : u Boy,  give  him  the  plough  stroke !”  and 
so  encouraged  him  that  he  forthwith  knocked  his 
adversary  out  of  time. 

It  is  almost  conclusive  as  to  the  swinging  stroke 
that  throughout  antiquity  a boxer  was  not  known  as 
a man  with  his  nose  broken,  but  as  a man  with  his 
ears  crushed.  Vergil  even  speaks  of  their  receiving 
blows  on  the  back.  Against  all  this  there  are  only 
two  pieces  of  evidence — one  of  them  incredible — in 
favor  of  the  straight  home  stroke.  In  the  light 
between  Pollux  and  Amykos,  described  by  Theo- 
critus ( Idyll  22),  Pollux  strikes  his  man  on  the  left 
temple,  xat  Ixifjureaev  djiuv^  which  may  mean,  u and 
follows  up  the  stroke  from  the  shoulder.”  But  this 
is  doubtful.  The  other  is  the  story  of  Pausanias 
(viii.  40,  3),  that  when  Kreugas  and  Damoxenos 
boxed  till  evening,  and  neither  could  hit  the  other, 
they  at  last  agreed  to  receive  stroke  about,  and  after 
Kreugas  had  dealt  Damoxenos  one  on  the  head,  the 
latter  told  him  to  hold  up  his  hand,1  and  then  drove 
his  lingers  right  into  Kreugas,  beneath  the  ribs,  and 
pulled  out  his  entrails.  Kreugas  of  course  died  on 
the  spot,  but  was  crowned  as  victor,  on  the  ground 
that  Damoxenos  had  broken  his  agreement  of  strik- 
ing one  blow  in  turn,  by  striking  him  with  live  sep- 

1 This  is  the  moment  chosen  by  Canova  in  his  celebrated  rep- 
resentation of  these  boxers  in  the  \ atican,  a fact  of  which  I was 
ignorant  till  it  was  pointed  out  to  me,  in  correcting  an  error  I had 
made  about  them,  by  Mr.  M’D.  Campbell,  of  Glasgow. 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


337 


arate  fingers ! But  this  curious  decision  was  only 
one  of  many  in  which  a boxing  competitor  was  dis- 
qualified for  having  fought  with  the  intention  of 
maiming  his  antagonist. 

Little  need  be  added  about  the  pankration,  which 
combined  boxing  and  wrestling,  and  permitted  every 
sort  of  physical  violence  except  biting.  In  this  con- 
test a mere  fall  did  not  end  the  affair,  as  might  hap- 
pen in  wrestling,  but  the  conflict  was  always  con- 
tinued on  the  ground,  and  often  ended  in  one  of  the 
combatants  being  actually  choked,  or  having  his 
fingers  and  toes  broken.  One  man,  Arrachion,  at 
the  last  gasp,  broke  his  adversary’s  toe,  and  made 
him  give  in,  at  the  moment  he  was  himself  dying 
of  strangulation.  Such  contests  were  not  to  the 
credit  either  of  the  humanity  or  of  the  good  taste 
of  the  Greeks,  and  would  not  be  tolerated  even  in 
the  lowest  of  our  prize  rings. 

I will  conclude  this  sketch  by  giving  some  account 
of  the  general  management  of  the  prize  meetings. 

There  was  no  want  of  excitement  and  of  circum- 
stance about  them.  In  the  case  of  the  four  great 
meetings  there  was  even  a public  truce  proclaimed, 
and  the  competitors  and  visitors  were  guaranteed 
a safe  journey  to  visit  them  and  to  return  to  their 
homes.  The  umpires  at  the  Olympic  games  were 
chosen  ten  months  before  at  Elis,  and  seem  to  have 
numbered  one  for  each  clan,  varying  through  Greek 
history  from  two  to  twelve,  but  finally  fixed  at  ten. 

22 


338 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


They  were  called  hoth  here  and  at  the  other  great 
games  'EMavodlxai,  judges  of  the  Hellenes,  in 
recognition  of  their  national  character.  Three 
superintended  the  pentathlon,  three  the  horse  races, 
and  the  rest  the  other  games.  They  had  to  reside 
together  in  a public  building,  and  undergo  strict 
training  in  all  the  details  of  their  business,  in 
which  they  were  assisted  by  heralds,  trumpeters, 
stewards,  etc.  Their  office  was  looked  upon  as  of 
much  dignity  and  importance. 

When  the  great  day  came,  they  sat  in  purple 
robes  in  the  semicircular  end  of  the  racecourse — 
a piece  of  splendor  which  the  modern  Greeks  imitate 
by  dressing  the  judges  of  the  new  Olympic  games 
in  full  evening  dress  and  white  kid  gloves.  The 
effect  even  now  with  neatly-clothed  candidates  is 
striking  enough ; what  must  it  have  been  when 
a row  of  judges  in  purple  looked  on  solemnly  at 
a pair  of  men  dressed  in  oil  and  dust — i.  e .,  in  mud 
— wrestling  or  rolling  upon  the  ground  ? The  crowd 
cheered  and  shouted  as  it  now  does.  Pausanias 
mentions  a number  of  cases  where  competitors  were 
disqualified  for  unfairness,  and  in  most  of  them  the 
man’s  city  took  up  the  quarrel,  which  became  quite 
a public  matter ; but  at  the  games  the  decision  was 
final,  nor  do  we  hear  of  a case  where  it  was  after- 
ward reversed.1  They  were  also  obliged  to  exact 

1 The  first  case  of  cheating  was  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the 
98th  Ol.  (388  B.  c.),  when  the  Thessalian  Enpolos  was  convicted  of 


OLYMPIA -THE  GAMES. 


339 


beforehand  from  each  candidate  an  oath  that  he  was 
of  pure  Hellenic  parentage,  that  he  had  not  taken, 
or  would  not  take,  any  unfair  advantage,  and  that 
he  had  spent  ten  months  in  strict  training.  This 
last  rule  I do  not  believe.  It  is  absurd  in  itself,  and 
is  contradicted  by  such  anecdotes  as  that  of  the 
sturdy  plough-boy  quoted  above,  and  still  more 
directly  by  the  remark  of  Philostratos  (Fu/jlv.  38), 
who  ridicules  any  inquiry  into  the  morals  or  training 
of  an  athlete  by  the  judges.  Its  only  meaning  could 
have  been  to  exclude  random  candidates,  if  the 
number  was  excessive,  and  in  later  times  some  such 
regulation  may  have  subsisted,  but  I do  not  accept 
it  for  the  good  classical  days.  There  is  the  case  of 
a boy  being  rejected  for  looking  too  young  and 
weak,  and  winning  in  the  next  Olympiad  among 
the  men.  But  in  another  instance  the  competitor 
disqualified  (for  unfairness)  went  mad  with  disap- 
pointment. Aristotle  notes  that  it  was  the  rarest 
possible  occurrence  for  a boy  champion  to  turn  out 
successful  among  the  full-grown  athletes,  but  Pau- 
sanias  seems  to  contradict  him,  a fair  number  of  cases 
being  cited  among  the  selection  which  he  makes. 

There  is  yet  one  unpleasant  feature  to  be  noted, 

bribing  the  three  boxers  opposed  to  him,  one  of  whom  had  won  at 
the  previous  meeting.  Such  crimes  were  commemorated  by  bronze 
figures  of  Zeus  (called  7ao.veq  at  Elis),  which  were  of  the  value  of 
the  fines  inflicted,  and  had  inscriptions  warning  all  athletes  of  the 
dangers  and  the  disgrace  of  cheating. 


340 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


which  has  disappeared  from  our  sports.  Several 
allusions  make  it  plain  that  the  vanquished,  even 
vanquished  boys,  were  regarded  as  fit  subjects  for 
jibe  and  ridicule,  and  that  they  sneaked  home  by 
lanes  and  backways.  When  the  most  ideal  account 
which  we  have  of  the  games  gives  us  this  informa- 
tion, we  cannot  hesitate  to  accept  it  as  probably 
a prominent  feature,  which  is,  moreover,  thoroughly 
consistent  with  the  character  of  the  old  Greeks  as 
I conceive  it.1 

The  general  conclusion  to  which  all  these  details 
lead  us  is  this,  that  with  all  the  care  and  with  all  the 
pomp  expended  on  Greek  athletic  meetings,  despite 
the  exaggerated  fame  attained  by  victors,  and  the 
solid  rewards  both  of  money  and  of  privileges  accorded 
them  by  their  grateful  country,  the  results  attained 
physically  seem  to  have  been  inferior  to  those  of 
English  athletes.  There  was,  moreover,  an  element 
of  brutality  in  them,  which  is  very  shocking  to  modern 
notions : and  not  all  the  ideal  splendor  of  Pindar’s 
praises,  or  of  Pythagoras’s  art,  can  raise  the  Greek 
pankratiast  as  an  athlete  much  above  the  level  of 
a modern  prize-fighter.  Rut,  nevertheless,  by  the 
aid  of  their  monumental  statues,  their  splendid  lyric 
poetry,  and  the  many  literary  and  musical  contests 
which  were  combined  with  the  gymnastic,  the  Greeks 
contrived,  as  usual,  to  raise  very  common  things  to 

1 The  reader  will  find  some  illustrations  of  it  in  my  Social 
Greece , 6th  edition,  p.  96. 


OLYMPIA— THE  GAMES. 


341 


a great  national  manifestation  of  culture  which  we 
cannot  hope  to  equal. 

For  common  they  were,  and  very  human,  in  the 
strictest  sense.  Dry-as-dust  scholars  would  have 
us  believe  that  the  odes  of  Pindar  give  a complete 
picture  of  these  games ; as  if  all  the  booths  about 
the  course  had  not  been  filled  with  idlers,  pleasure- 
mongers,  and  the  scum  of  Greek  society  ! Tumb- 
ling, thimble-rigging,  and  fortune-telling,  along  with 
love-making  and  trading,  made  Olympia  a scene 
not  unlike  the  Derby.  When  the  drinking  parties 
of  young  men  began  in  the  evening,  there  may  even 
have  been  a soup<pn  of  Donny brook  Fair  about  it, 
but  that  the  committee  of  management  were  prob- 
ably strict  in  their  discipline.  From  the  Isthmian 
games  the  successful  athletes,  with  their  training 
over,  retired,  as  most  athletes  do,  to  the  relaxation 
afforded  by  city  amusements.  One  can  imagine 
how  amply  Corinth  provided  for  the  outburst  of 
liberty  after  the  long  and  arduous  subjection  of 
physical  training. 

But  all  these  things  are  perhaps  justly  forgotten, 
and  it  is  ungrateful  to  revive  them  from  oblivion. 
The  dust  and  dross  of  human  conflict,  the  blood  and 
the  gall,  the  pain  and  the  revenge — all  this  was  laid 
aside  like  the  athlete’s  dress,  and  could  not  hide  the 
glory  of  his  naked  strength  and  his  iron  endurance. 
The  idleness  and  vanity  of  human  admiration  have 
vanished  with  the  motley  crowd,  and  have  left  us 


342 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


free  to  study  the  deeper  beauty  of  human  vigor 
with  the  sculptor,  and  the  spiritual  secrets  of  its 
hereditary  origin  with  the  poet.  Thus  Greek  gym- 
nastic, with  all  its  defects — perhaps  even  with  its 
absurdities — has  done  what  has  never  been  even 
the  dream  of  its  modern  sister  ; it  stimulated  the 
greatest  artists  and  the  highest  intellects  in  society, 
and  through  them  ennobled  and  purified  public  taste 
and  public  morals. 

When  we  left  Olympia,  and  began  to  ascend  the 
course  of  the  Alpheus,  the  valley  narrowed  to  the 
broad  bed  of  the  stream.  The  way  leads  now  along 
the  shady  slopes  high  over  the  river,  noAv  down  in 
the  sandy  flats  left  bare  in  the  summer  season. 
There  are  curious  zones  of  vegetation  distinctly 
marked  along  the  course  of  the  valley.  On  the 
river  bank,  and  in  the  little  islands  formed  by  the 
stream,  are  laurels,  myrtles,  and  great  plane-trees. 
On  the  steep  and  rocky  slopes  are  thick  coverts  of 
mastich,  arbutus,  dwarf-holly,  and  other  evergreens 
which  love  to  clasp  the  rocks  with  their  roots ; and 
they  are  all  knit  together  by  great  creeping  plants, 
the  wild  vine,  the  convolvulus,  and  many  that  are 
new  and  nameless  to  the  northern  stranger.  On 
the  heights,  rearing  their  great  tops  against  the 
sky,  are  huge  pine-trees,  isolated  and  still  tattered 
with  the  winter  storms. 

u Ces  adieux  a PElide,”  adds  M.  Beule,  u laissent 


The  Valley  of  the  Alpheus 


LALA. 


343 


une  pure  et  vive  impression.  Rarement  la  nature 
se  trouve  en  si  parfaite  harmonic  avec  les  souvenirs. 
On  dirait  un  theatre  eternel,  toujours  pret  pour  les 
joies  paciliques,  toujours  pare  pour  les  fetes,  et  qui, 
depuis  dix-huit  siecles,  attend  ses  acteurs  qui  ont 
disparu.” 

Travellers  going  from  Olympia  northward  either 
go  round  by  carriage  through  Elis  to  Patras — a drive 
of  two  days — or  by  Kalavryta  to  Megaspilion,  and 
thence  to  Vostitza,  thus  avoiding  the  great  Alps  of 
Olonos  (as  Erymanthus  is  now  called)  and  Chelmos, 
which  are  among  the  highest  and  most  picturesque 
in  Greece.  After  my  last  visit  to  Olympia  (1884) 
I was  so  tantalized  by  the  perpetual  view  of  the 
snowy  crest  of  Olonos,  that  I determined  to  attempt 
a new  route,  not  known  to  any  of  the  guide-books,1 
and  cross  over  the  mountain,  as  directly  as  I could, 
from  Olympia  to  Patras.  It  was  easy  for  me  to 
carry  out  this  plan,  being  accompanied  by  a young 
Greek  antiquarian,  M.  Castromenos,  and  by  Dr. 
Purgold  from  Olympia,  who  had  travelled  through 
most  of  Greece,  but  was  as  anxious  as  I was  to  try 
this  new  route. 

So  we  started  on  a beautiful  spring  morning,  up 
the  valley  of  the  Kladeos,  with  all  the  trees  bursting 
into  leaf  and  blossom,  and  the  birds  singing  their 
hymns  of  delight.  The  way  was  wooded,  and  led 

1 It  has  been  since  inserted  from  my  notes  in  the  English  trans- 
lation of  Baedeker’s  Greece. 


344 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


up  through  narrow  and  steep,  but  not  difficult  glens, 
until,  on  a far  higher  level,  we  came  in  three  or 
four  hours  to  the  village  of  Lala,  once  an  important 
Turkish  fort.  Here  was  a higher  plain,  from  which 
we  began  to  see  the  plan  of  that  vast  complex  of 
mountains  which  form  the  boundaries  of  the  Old 
Elis,  Achaia,  and  Arcadia,  and  which  have  so  often 
been  the  scenes  of  difficult  campaigns.  From  Lala, 
where  we  breakfasted,  we  crossed  a sudden  deep 
valley,  and  found  ourselves,  on  regaining  the  higher 
level,  in  a vast  oak  forest,  unlike  anything  I had  yet 
seen  in  Greece.  The  trees  had  been  undisturbed 
for  centuries,  and  the  forest  was  even  avoided  in 
summer  by  the  natives,  on  account  of  the  many  poi- 
sonous snakes  which  hid  in  the  deep  layers  of  dead 
leaves.  In  that  high  country  the  oaks  were  just 
turning  pink  with  their  new  buds,  and  not  a green 
leaf  was  to  be  seen,  so  we  could  trust  to  the  winter 
sleep  of  the  snakes,  while  we  turned  aside  again  and 
again  from  our  path,  to  the  great  perplexity  of  the 
muleteers,  to  dig  up  wood  anemones  of  all  colors, 
pale  blue,  pink,  deep  crimson,  scarlet,  snowy-white, 
which  showed  brilliantly  on  the  brown  oak-leaf 
carpet. 

We  spent  at  least  two  hours  in  riding  through  this 
forest,  and  then  we  rose  higher  and  higher,  passing 
along  the  upper  edge  of  deep  glens,  with  rushing 
streams  far  beneath  us.  The  most  beautiful  point 
was  one  from  which  we  looked  down  a vast  straight 


TRIPOTAMO. 


345 


glen  of  some  fifteen  miles,  almost  as  deep  as  a canon, 
with  the  silvery  Erymanthus  river  pursuing  its 
furious  course  so  directly  as  to  be  clearly  visible 
all  the  way.  But  though  ascending  the  river  from 
this  point,  where  its  course  comes  suddenly  round  a 
corner,  the  upper  country  was  no  longer  wooded, 
but  bleak,  like  most  of  the  Alpine  Arcadia,  a country 
of  dire  winters  and  great  hardship  to  the  population, 
who  till  an  unwilling  soil  on  the  steep  slopes  of  giant 
precipices. 

We  were  much  tempted  to  turn  up  another  tortu- 
ous glen  to  the  hidden  nest  of  Divri,  where  the 
Greeks  found  refuge  from  Turkish  prosecution  in 
the  great  war — a place  so  concealed,  and  so  difficult 
of  access,  that  an  armed  force  has  never  penetrated 
there.  But  the  uncertainties  of  our  route  were  too 
many  to  admit  of  these  episodes,  so  we  hurried  on 
to  reach  the  Kahn  of  Tripotamo  in  the  evening — a 
resting-place  which  suggested  to  us  strongly  the  inn 
where  St.  John  is  reported  to  have  slept  in  the 
apocryphal  Acts  of  his  life.  Being  very  tired  with 
preaching  and  travelling,  he  found  it  so  impossible 
to  share  the  room  with  the  bugs,  that  he  besought 
them  in  touching  language  to  allow  him  to  sleep ; 
practically  in  virtue  of  his  apostolic  authority,  he 
ordered  them  out  of  the  house.  They  all  obeyed, 
but  when  in  the  morning  the  apostle  and  his  com- 
panions found  them  waiting  patiently  outside  the 
door,  he  was  so  moved  by  their  consideration  for 


346 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


him,  that  he  permitted  them  to  return  and  infest  the 
house. 

Nor  were  the  bugs  perhaps  the  worst.  Being 
awakened  by  a crunching  noise  in  the  night,  I per- 
ceived that  a party  of  cats  had  come  in  to  finish  our 
supper  for  us,  and  when  startled  by  a flying  boot, 
they  made  our  beds  and  bodies  the  stepping  stones 
for  a leap  to  the  rafters,  and  out  through  a large 
hole  in  the  roof.  By  and  by  I was  aroused  by  the 
splashing  of  cold  water  in  my  face,  and  found  that  a 
heavy  shower  had  come  on,  and  was  pouring  through 
the  cats’  passage.  So  I put  up  my  umbrella  in  bed 
till  the  shower  was  over — the  only  time  I felt  rain 
during  the  whole  of  that  voyage.  I notice  that  Miss 
Agnes  Smith,  who  travelled  through  these  parts  in 
May,  1883,  and  had  very  similar  experiences  at  Tri- 
potamo,  was  wet  through  almost  every  day.  We 
did  not  see  more  than  two  showers,  and  were  more- 
over so  fortunate  as  to  have  perfectly  calm  days 
whenever  we  were  crossing  high  passes,  though  in 
general  the  breeze  was  so  strong  as  to  be  almost 
stormy  in  the  valleys. 

Next  morning  we  followed  the  river  up  to  the 
neighboring  site  of  Psophis,  so  picturesquely  de- 
scribed by  Polybius  in  his  account  of  Philip  V.,  and 
his  campaigns  in  Elis  and  Triphylia.1  This  town, 
regarded  as  the  frontier-town  of  Elis,  Arcadia,  and 
Achaia,  would  well  repay  an  enterprising  excavator. 

1 Polybius,  iv.  70. 


OLONOS. 


347 


The  description  of  Polybius  can  be  verified  without 
difficulty,  and  ruins  are  still  visible.  We  found  out 
from  a solitary  traveller  that  our  way  turned  to  the 
north,  up  one  of  the  affluents  of  the  Erymanthus, 
and  so  we  ascended  in  company  with  this  worthy 
man  to  a village  (Lechouri)  under  the  highest  preci- 
pices of  Olonos.  He  was  full  of  the  curiosity  of  a 
Greek  peasant — Who  were  we,  where  did  we  come 
from,  were  we  married,  had  we  children,  how  many, 
what  was  our  income,  was  it  from  land,  was  it  paid 
by  the  State,  could  we  be  dismissed  by  the  Govern- 
ment, were  we  going  to  write  about  Greece,  what 
would  we  say,  etc.,  etc.  ? Such  was  the  conversa- 
tion to  which  we  submitted  for  the  sake  of  his 
guidance.  But  at  last  it  seemed  as  if  our  way  was 
actually  at  an  end,  and  we  had  come  into  an  im- 
passable cul-de-sac.  Perpendicular  walls  of  rock 
surrounded  us  on  all  sides  except  where  we  had 
entered  by  constantly  fording  the  stream,  or  skirting 
along  its  edge.  Was  it  possible  that  the  curiosity  of 
our  fellow-traveller  had  betrayed  him  into  leading  us 
up  this  valley  to  the  village  whither  he  himself  was 
bound  ? We  sought  anxiously  for  the  answer,  when 
he  showed  us  a narrow  strip  of  dark  pine-trees  coming 
down  from  above,  in  form  like  a little  torrent,  and 
so  reaching  with  a narrow  thread  of  green  to  the 
head  of  the  valley.  This  was  our  pass,  the  pine- 
trees  with  their  roots  and  stems  made  a zigzag  path 
up  the  almost  perpendicular  wall  possible,  and  so  we 


348 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


wended  our  way  up  with  infinite  turnings,  walking 
or  rather  climbing  for  safety’s  sake,  and  to  rest  the 
laboring  mules.  Often  as  I had  before  attempted 
steep  ascents  with  horses  in  Greece,  I never  saw 
anything  so  astonishing  as  this. 

When  we  had  reached  the  top  we  found  ourselves 
on  a narrow  saddle,  with  snowy  heights  close  to  us 
on  both  sides,  the  highest  ridge  of  Olonos  facing  us 
a few  miles  away,  and  a great  pine  forest  reaching 
down  on  the  northern  side,  whither  our  descent  was 
to  lead  us.  About  us  were  still  great  patches  of 
snow,  and  in  them  were  blowing  the  crocus  and  the 
cyclamen,  with  deep  blue  scilla.  Far  away  to  the 
south  reached,  in  a great  panorama,  the  mountains 
of  Arcadia,  and  even  beyond  them  the  highest 
tops  of  Messene  and  Laconia  were  plainly  visible. 
The  air  was  clear,  the  day  was  perfectly  fine  and 
calm.  To  the  north  the  chain  of  Erymanthus  still 
hid  from  us  the  far  distance.  For  a long  time,  while 
our  muleteers  slept  and  the  mules  and  ponies  rested, 
we  sat  wondering  at  the  great  view.  The  barometer 
indicated  that  we  were  at  a height  of  about  5500 
feet.  The  freshness  and  purity  of  the  atmosphere 
was  such  that  no  thought  of  hunger  and  fatigue 
could  mar  our  perfect  enjoyment.  In  the  evening, 
descending  through  gloomy  pines  and  dazzling  snow, 
we  reached  the  village  of  Hagios  Vlasos,  where  the 
song  of  countless  nightingales  beguiled  the  hours  of 
the  night,  for  here  too  sleep  was  not  easily  obtained. 


OLONOS. 


349 


The  journey  from  this  point  to  Patras,  which  we 
accomplished  in  twelve  hours,  is  not  so  interesting, 
and  the  traveller  who  tries  it  now  had  better  tele- 
graph for  a carriage  to  meet  him  as  far  as  possible 
on  the  way.  By  this  time  a good  road  is  finished 
for  many  miles,  and  the  tedium  and  heat  of  the 
plain,  as  you  approach  Patras,  are  very  trying. 
But  with  this  help,  I think  no  journey  in  all  Greece 
so  well  worth  attempting,  and  of  course  it  can  be 
accomplished  in  either  direction. 

Patras  is  indeed  an  excellent  place  for  a starting- 
point.  Apart  from  the  route  just  described,  you  can 
go  by  boat  to  Vostitza,  and  thence  to  Megaspilion. 
There  are,  moreover,  splendid  alpine  ascents  to  be 
made  for  those  who  like  such  work,  to  the  summits 
of  Chelmos  and  Olonos  (Erymanthus),  and  this  is 
best  done  from  Patras.  Moreover,  Patras  is  itself  a 
most  lovely  place,  commanding  a noble  view  of  the 
coast  and  mountains  of  iEtolia  across  the  narrow 
fiord,  as  well  as  of  the  Ionian  islands  to  the  N.  W. 
Right  opposite  is  the  ever-interesting  site  of  Mis- 
solonghi.  Last,  and  perhaps  not  least,  there  is  at 
Patras  a most  respectable  inn,  indeed  I should  call 
it  a hotel,1  where  the  traveller  who  has  spent  ten 


1 By  this  time  (1891 ) there  are  probably  three  or  four  rivals, 
which  the  traveller  will  see  noted  in  his  guide-book,  provided  he 
does  not  depend  on  the  Guide  Joanne,  which  neglects  to  give  such 
information.  The  house  to  which  I allude  in  the  text  is  the 
Hotel  S.  George. 


350 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


days  of  rough  outing  in  Peloponnesus  will  find  a 
haven  of  rest  and  comfort.  From  here  steamers 
will  carry  him  to  Athens  round  the  coast,  or  home 
to  Italy. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


ARCADIA — ANDRITZENA — BASS.E — MEGALOPOLIS 

TRIPOLITZA. 

There  is  no  name  in  Greece  which  raises  in  the 
mind  of  the  ordinary  reader  more  pleasing  and  more 
definite  ideas  than  the  name  Arcadia.  It  has  be- 
come indissolubly  connected  with  the  charms  of  pas- 
toral ease  and  rural  simplicity.  The  sound  of  the 
shepherd’s  pipe  and  the  maiden’s  laughter,  the  rust- 
ling of  shady  trees,  the  murmuring  of  gentle  foun- 
tains, the  bleating  of  lambs  and  the  lowing  of  oxen 
— these  are  the  images  of  peace  and  plenty  which 
the  poets  have  gathered  about  that  ideal  retreat. 
There  are  none  more  historically  false,  more  un- 
founded in  the  real  nature  and  aspect  of  the  coun- 
try, and  more  opposed  to  the  sentiment  of  the  an- 
cients. Rugged  mountains  and  gloomy  defiles,  a 
harsh  and  wintry  climate,  a poor  and  barren  soil, 
tilled  with  infinite  patience ; a home  that  exiled  its 
children  to  seek  bread  at  the  risk  of  their  blood,  a 
climate  more  opposed  to  intelligence  and  to  culture 
than  even  Boeotian  fogs,  a safe  retreat  of  bears  and 
wolves — this  is  the  Arcadia  of  old  Greek  history. 
Politically  it  has  no  weight  whatever  till  the  days 

351 


352 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


of  Epaminondas,  and  the  foundation  of  Megalopolis. 
Intellectually,  its  rise  is  even  later,  and  it  takes  no 
national  part  in  the  great  march  of  literature  from 
Homer  to  Menander.1  It  was  only  famed  for  the 
marketable  valor  of  its  hardy  mountaineers,  of  whom 
the  Tegeans  had  held  their  own  even  against  the 
power  of  Sparta,  and  obtained  an  honorable  place  in 
her  army.  It  was  also  noted  for  rude  and  primitive 
cults,  of  which  later  men  praised  the  simplicity  and 
homely  piety — at  times  also,  the  stern  gloominess, 
which  did  not  turn  from  the  offering  of  human 
blood. 

I must  remind  the  reader  that  rural  beauty  among 
the  ancients,  as  well  as  among  the  Renaissance  vis- 
ions of  an  imaginary  Arcadia  as  a rustic  paradise, 
by  no  means  included  the  wild  picturesqueness 
which  we  admire  in  beetling  cliffs  and  raging  tor- 
rents. These  were  inhospitable  and  savage  to  the 
Greeks.  It  was  the  gentle  slope,  the  rich  pasture, 
the  placid  river  framed  in  deep  foliage — it  was, 
in  fact,  landscape-scenery  like  the  valleys  of  the 
Thames,  or  about  the  gray  abbeys  of  Yorkshire, 
which  satisfied  their  notion  of  perfect  landscape ; 
and  in  this  the  men  of  the  Renaissance  were  per- 
fectly agreed  with  them. 

How,  then,  did  the  false  notion  of  our  Arcadia 

1 Tliis  is  not  contradicted  by  the  fact  of  there  being  isolated 
Arcadian  poets,  such  as  Echembrotus  and  Aristarchus,  distin- 
guished in  foreign  schools  of  art. 


ARCADIA. 


353 


spring  up  in  modern  Europe  ? How  is  it  that  even 
our  daily  papers  assume  this  sense,  and  know  it  to 
be  intelligible  to  the  most  vulgar  public  ? The  his- 
tory of  the  change  from  the  historical  to  the  poetical 
conception  is  very  curious,  and  worth  the  trouble  of 
explaining,  especially  as  we  find  it  assumed  in  many 
books,  but  accounted  for  in  none. 

It  appears  that  from  the  oldest  days  the  worship 
of  Pan  had  its  home  in  Arcadia,  particularly  about 
Mount  Msenalus,  and  that  it  was  already  ancient 
when  it  was  brought  to  Athens  at  the  time  of  the 
Persian  Wars.  The  extant  Hymn  to  Pan,  among 
the  Homeric  Hymns,  which  may  have  been  com- 
posed shortly  after  that  date,  is  very  remarkable 
for  its  idyllic  and  picturesque  tone,  and  shows  that 
with  this  worship  of  Pan  were  early  associated  those 
trains  of  nymphs  and  rustic  gods,  with  their  piping 
and  dance,  which  inspired  Praxiteles’s  inimitable 
Faun.  These  images  are  even  transferred  by  Eu- 
ripides to  the  Acropolis,  where  he  describes  the 
daughters  of  Aglauros  dancing  on  the  sward,  while 
Pan  is  playing  his  pipe  in  the  grotto  underneath 
(Ion,  vv.  492,  sqq.).  Such  facts  seem  to  show  a 
gentle  and  poetical  element  in  the  stern  and  gloomy 
mountaineers,  who  lived,  like  the  Swiss  of  our  day, 
in  a perpetual  struggle  with  nature,  and  were  all 
their  lives  harassed  with  toil  and  saddened  with 
thankless  fatigue.  This  conclusion  is  sustained  by 
the  evidence  of  a far  later  witness,  Polybius,  who 
23 


354 


II AMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


in  his  fourth  book  mentions  the  strictness  with  which 
the  Arcadians  insisted  upon  an  education  in  music, 
as  necessary  to  soften  the  harshness  and  wildness  of 
their  life.  lie  even  maintains  that  the  savagery  of 
one  town  (Kynsetha)  was  caused  by  a neglect  of  this 
salutary  precaution.  So  it  happens  that,  although 
Theocritus  lays  his  pastoral  scenes  in  the  uplands 
of  Sicily,  and  the  later  pastoral  romances,  such  as 
the  exquisite  Daphnis  and  Chloe , are  particularly 
associated  with  the  voluptuous  Lesbos,  Vergil,  in 
several  of  his  Eclogues , makes  allusion  to  the  musi- 
cal talent  of  Arcadian  shepherds,  and  in  his  tenth 
brings  the  unhappy  Gallus  into  direct  relation  to 
Arcadia  in  connection  with  the  worship  of  Pan  on 
Msenalus.  Put  this  prominent  feature  in  Vergil — 
borrowed,  I suppose,  from  some  Greek  poet,  though 

I know  not  from  whom — bore  r.o  immediate  fruit. 

I I is  Roman  imitators,  Calpurnius  and  Nemesianus, 
make  no  mention  of  Arcadia,  and  if  they  had,  their 
works  were  not  unearthed  till  the  year  1534,  when 
the  poetical  Arcadia  had  been  already,  as  I shall 
show,  created.  There  seems  no  hint  of  the  idea  in 
early  Italian  poetry;1  for  according  to  the  histories 
of  mediaeval  literature,  the  pastoral  romance  did  not 
originate  until  the  very  end  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, with  the  Portuguese  Ribeyro,  and  lie  lays  all 

1 The  Eclogues  of  Petrarch  arc  modelled  upon  those  of  Vergil 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  most  characteristic  features  borrowed  by 
the  latter  from  Theocritus. 


ARCADIA. 


355 


the  scenes  of  his  idylls  not  in  a foreign  country,  but 
in  Portugal,  his  own  home.  Thus  we  reach  the  year 
1500  without  any  trace  of  a poetical  Arcadia.  But 
at  that  very  time  it  was  being  created  by  the  single 
work  of  a single  man.  The  celebrated  Jacopo  San- 
nazaro,  known  by  the  title  of  Actius  Sincerus  in  the 
affected  society  of  literary  Naples,  exiled  himself 
from  that  city  in  consequence  of  a. deep  and  unre- 
quited passion.  He  lay  concealed  for  a long  time, 
it  is  said,  in  the  wilds  of  France,  possibly  in  Egypt, 
but  certainly  not  in  Greece,  and  immortalized  his 
grief  in  a pastoral  medley  of  prose  description  and 
idyllic  complaint  called  Arcadia ,*  and  suggested,  I 

1 The  following  extract  from  the  first  prose  piece  of  the  book 
will  show  how  absolutely  imaginary  is  his  Arcadia,  with  its  impos- 
sible combination  of  trees,  and  its  absence  of  winter : — 

“ Giace  nella  sommita  di  Partenio,  non  umile  monte  della  pas- 
torale Arcadia,  un  dilettevole  piano,  di  ampiezza  non  molto  spa- 
zioso,  peroche  il  sito  del  luogo  non  consente,  ma  di  minuta  e 
verdissima  erbetta  si  ripieno,  che,  se  le  lascive  pecorelle  con  gli 
avidi  morsi  non  vi  pasceresso,  vi  si  potrebbe  d’  ogni  tempo  ritrovare 
verdura.  Ove,  se  io  non  m’inganno,  son  forse  dodici  o quindici 
alberi  di  tanto  strana  ed  eccessiva  bellezza,  che  chiunque  le  ve- 
desse,  giudicherebbe  che  la  maestra  natura  vi  si  fosse  con  sommo 
diletto  studiata  in  formarli.  Li  quali  alquanto  distanti,  ed  in 
ordine  non  artificioso  disposti,  con  la  loro  rarita  la  naturale  bel- 
lezza del  luogo  oltra  misura  annobiliscono.  Quivi  senza  nodo 
veruno  si  vede  il  dritissimo  abete,  nato  a sostenere  i pericoli  del 
mare  ; e con  piu  aperti  rami  la  robusta  quercia,  e 1’  alto  frassino, 
e lo  amenissimo  platano  vi  si  distendano,  con  le  loro  ombre  non 
picciola  parte  del  bello  e copioso  prato  occupando ; ed  evvi  con 
piu  breve  fronda  1’  albero,  di  che  Ercole  coronare  si  solea,  nel  cui 


356 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


believe,  by  the  Gallus  of  Vergil.  Though  the 
learned  and  classical  author  despised  this  work  in 
comparison  with  his  heroic  poem  on  the  Conception 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  the  public  of  the  day  thought 
differently.  Appearing  in  1502,  the  Arcadia  of 
Sannazaro  went  through  sixty  editions  during  the 
century,  and  so  this  single  book  created  that  imagi- 
nary home  of  innocence  and  grace  which  has  ever 
since  been  attached  to  the  name.  Its  occurrence 
henceforward  is  so  frequent  as  to  require  no  further 
illustration  in  this  place. 

But  let  us  turn  from  this  poetical  and  imaginary 
country  to  the  real  land — from  Arcadia  to  Arcadia, 
as  it  is  called  by  the  real  inhabitants.  As  everybody 
knows,  this  Arcadia  is  the  alpine  centre  of  the 
Morea,  bristling  with  mountain  chains,  which  reach 
their  highest  points  in  the  great  bar  of  Erymanthus, 
to  the  N.  W.,  in  the  lonely  peak  of  u Cyllene  hoar,” 
to  the  N.  E.,  in  the  less  conspicuous,  but  far  more 
sacred  Lykseon,  to  the  S.  W.,  and  finally,  in  the  ser- 

pedale  le  misere  figliuole  di  Climene  furono  trasformate  : ed  in  un 
de’  lati  si  scerne  il  noderoso  castagno,  il  fronzuto  bosco,  e con  pun- 
tate  foglie  lo  eccelso  pino  carico  di  durissimi  frutti ; nell’  altro 
I’ ombroso  faggio,  la  incorruttibile  tiglia,  il  fragile  tamarisco,  in- 
sieme  con  la  orientale  palma,  dolci  ed  onorato  premio  dei  vinci- 
tori.  Ma  fra  tutti  nel  mezzo,  presso  un  chiaro  fonte,  sorge  verso 
il  cielo  un  dritto  cipresso,”  etc.,  etc.  The  work  is,  moreover,  full 
of  direct  imitations  of  Vergil,  not,  I fancy,  of  Theocritus  also,  as 
the  Italian  commentators  suppose,  for  that  poet  was  not  adequately 
printed  till  1495,  which  must  have  been  very  near  the  date  of  the 
actual  composition  of  the  Arcadia. 


THE  ALPHEUS. 


357 


rated  Taygetus  to  the  S.  E.  These  four  are  the  angles, 
as  it  were,  of  a quadrilateral  enclosing  Arcadia.  Yet 
these  are  but  the  greatest  among  chains  of  great 
mountains,  which  seem  to  traverse  the  country  in 
all  directions,  and  are  not  easily  distinguished,  or 
separated  into  any  connected  system.1  They  are 
nevertheless  interrupted,  as  we  found,  by  two  fine 
oval  plains — both  stretching  north  and  south,  both 
surrounded  with  a beautiful  panorama  of  mountains, 
and  both,  of  course,  the  seats  of  the  old  culture,  such 
as  it  was  in  Arcadia.  That  which  is  southerly  and 
westerly,  and  from  which  the  rivers  still  flow  into  the 
Alpheus  and  the  western  sea,2  is  guarded  at  its  south 
end  by  Megalopolis.  That  which  is  more  east,  which 
is  higher  in  level,  and  separated  from  the  former  by 
the  bleak  bar  of  Msenalus,  is  the  plain  of  Mantinea 
and  Tegea,  now  represented  by  the  important  town 
of  Tripolitza.  These  two  parallel  plains  give  some 
plan  and  system  to  the  confusion  of  mountains  which 
cover  the  ordinary  maps  of  Arcadia. 

The  passage  from  Elis  into  Arcadia  is  nowhere 
marked  by  any  natural  boundary.  You  ride  up  the 
valley  of  the  Alpheus,  crossing  constantly  the 

1 It  is  worth  noting  that  the  Arcadian  vision  in  the  Shepherd  of 
Hernias,  describing  a scene  of  twelve  mountains  of  varied  and  con- 
trasted aspect,  though  intended  for  an  allegorical  purpose,  is  really 
faithful  to  nature,  and  suggests  that  the  author  knew  something  of 
the  country  he  describes. 

2 Pausanias  places  the  source  of  the  Alpheus  higher  up,  and 
close  to  Tegea  in  the  eastern  plain. 


358 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


streams,  great  and  small,  which  come  flowing  into 
it  from  the  spurs  of  Erymanthus,  from  northern 
Arcadia,  and  the  adjoining  highlands  of  Elis.  The 
stream  called  Erymanthus,  which  is  the  old  boun- 
dary, though  called  a Trora/w c by  Polybius, 

does  not  strike  the  traveller  here  as  it  does  higher 
up  in  its  course,  and  the  only  other  confluent  water 
worth  mentioning  is  the  Ladon,  which  meets  the 
Alpheus  at  some  hours’  ride  above  Olympia,  but 
which  counted  of  old  as  a river  of  Arcadia.  This 
Ladon  seems  to  have  specially  struck  Pausanias  with 
its  beauty,  as  he  returns  to  it  several  times  $ and 
later  observers,  such  as  M.  Beul6,  have  corroborated 
him,  saying  that  on  the  banks  of  this  river  you  may 
indeed  find  the  features  of  the  poetical  Arcadia — 
grassy  slopes  and  great  shady  trees,  without  the  de- 
files and  precipices  so  common  in  the  inner  country. 
The  Ladon  and  its  valley  in  fact,  though  in  Arcadia, 
partake  of  the  character  of  the  neighboring  Elis : it 
is  the  outer  boundary  of  the  real  Alps.  The  Al- 
pheus, on  the  contrary,  which  is  a broad,  peaceful 
stream  when  it  passes  into  tamer  country,  comes 
through  the  wildest  part  of  central  Arcadia ; and  if 
you  follow  its  course  upward,  will  lead  you  first  past 
the  ancient  site  of  Hersea,  a few  miles  above  the 
Ladon,  and  then  through  rugged  and  savage  moun- 
tains, till  you  at  last  ascend  to  the  valley  of  Mega- 
lopolis, round  which  it  winds  in  a great  curve.  We 
did  not  follow  this  route,  nor  did  we  ascend  the 


RIDE  TO  ANDRITZENA. 


359 


valley  of  the  Ladon,  in  spite  of  its  reputed  beauties. 
For  we  were  bound  for  Andritzena,  a ride  of  eleven 
hours  from  Olympia,  which  lay  to  the  S.  E.,  and 
within  easy  distance  of  the  temple  of  Bassse.  We 
therefore  forded  the  Alpheus,  just  above  the  conflu- 
ence of  the  Ladon,  where  the  two  rivers  form  a 
great  delta  of  sand,  and  the  stream  is  broad  and 
comparatively  shallow.  The  banks  were  clothed 
with  brushwood,  and  above  it  with  a green  forest, 
along  the  grassy  margin  of  which  scarlet  anemones 
were  scattered  like  our  primroses  among  the  stems 
of  the  trees,  and  varied  with  their  brightness  the 
mosses  and  hoary  lichen.  From  this  point  onward 
we  began  to  cross  narrow  defiles,  and  climb  up  steeps 
which  seemed  impossible  to  any  horse  or  mule.  We 
entered  secluded  mountain  valleys,  where  the  inhabi- 
tants appeared  to  live  apart  from  all  the  world,  and 
looked  with  wonder  upon  the  sudden  stranger.  We 
rested  beside  tumbling  rivers,  rushing  from  great 
wooded  mountain  sides,  which  stood  up  beside  us 
like  walls  of  waving  green.  The  snow  had  dis- 
appeared from  these  wild  valleys  but  a few  weeks, 
and  yet  even  the  later  trees  were  already  clothed 
with  that  yellow  and  russet  brown  which  is  not  only 
the  faded  remnant,  but  also  the  forerunner,  of  the 
summer  green.  And  down  by  the  river’s  side  the 
gray  fig  trees  were  putting  forth  great  tufts  at  the 
end  of  every  branch,  while  the  pear  trees  were 
showering  their  snowy  blossoms  upon  the  stream. 


360 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


But  in  one  respect,  all  this  lonely  solitude  showed  a 
marked  contrast  to  the  wilds  of  northern  Greece. 
Every  inch  of  available  ground  was  cultivated ; all 
the  steep  hill  sides  were  terraced  in  ridges  with  in- 
finite labor ; the  ravages  of  the  winter’s  torrent  were 
being  actively  repaired.  There  was  indeed  in  some 
sense  a solitude.  No  idlers  or  wanderers  were  to  be 
seen  on  the  way.  But  the  careful  cultivation  of  all 
the  country  showed  that  there  was  not  only  popula- 
tion, but  a thrifty  and  careful  population.  All  the 
villages  seemed  encumbered  with  the  remains  of  re- 
cent building ; for  almost  all  the  houses  were  new, 
or  erected  within  very  few  years.  The  whole  of 
this  alpine  district  seemed  happy  and  prosperous. 
This,  say  the  Greeks,  is  the  result  of  its  remoteness 
from  the  Turkish  frontier,  its  almost  insular  position 
— in  fact,  of  its  being  under  undisturbed  Hellenic 
rule.  No  bandit  has  been  heard  of  in  Arcadia  since 
the  year  1847.  Life  and  property  are,  I should 
think,  more  secure  than  in  any  part  of  England. 
Morals  are  remarkably  pure.  If  all  Greece  were 
occupied  in  this  way  by  a contented  and  industrious 
peasantry,  undisturbed  by  ambition  from  within  or 
violence  from  without,  the  kingdom  must  soon  be- 
come rich  and  prosperous.  It  was  not  uncommon  to 
find  in  these  valleys  two  or  three  secluded  home- 
steads, miles  from  any  village.  This  is  the  surest 
sign  both  of  outward  security  and  of  inward  thrift, 
when  people  cut  themselves  off  from  society  for  the 


ANDRITZENA. 


361 


sake  of  ample  room  and  good  return  for  their  in- 
dustry. Late  in  the  evening  we  entered  the  steep 
streets  of  the  irregular  but  considerable  town  of 
Andritzena. 

We  experienced  in  this  place  some  of  the  rude- 
ness of  Greek  travel.  As  the  party  was  too  large 
to  be  accommodated  in  a private  house,  we  sought 
the  shelter  of  a ^svodoxscov,  as  it  is  still  called — an 
inn  with  no  chairs,  no  beds,  one  tiny  table,  and 
about  two  spoons  and  forks.  We  were  in  fact 
lodged  within  four  bare  walls,  with  a balcony  out- 
side the  room,  and  slept  upon  rugs  laid  on  the  floor. 
The  people  were  very  civil  and  honest — in  this 
a great  contrast  to  the  inn  at  Tripolitza,  of  which 
I shall  speak  in  due  time — and  were,  moreover,  con- 
siderably inconvenienced  by  our  arrival  during  the 
Passion  Week  of  the  Greek  Church,  when  there  is 
hardly  anything  eaten.  There  was  no  meat,  of 
course,  in  the  town.  But  this  was  not  all.  No 
form  of  milk,  cheese,  or  curds,  is  allowed  during 
this  fast.  The  people  live  on  black  bread,  olives, 
and  hard-boiled  eggs.  They  are  wholly  given  up 
to  their  processions  and  services ; they  are  ready 
to  think  of  nothing  else.  Thus  we  came  not  only 
to  a place  scantily  supplied,  but  at  the  scantiest 
moment  of  the  year.  This  is  a fact  of  great  impor- 
tance to  travellers  in  Greece,  and  one  not  mentioned, 
I think,  in  the  guide-books.  Without  making  care- 
ful provision  beforehand  by  telegraph,  no  one  should 


362 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


venture  into  the  highlands  of  Greece  during  this  very 
Holy  Week,  and  it  should  be  remembered  that  it 
does  not  coincide  with  the  Passion  or  Holy  Week  of 
the  Latin  Church.  It  was  just  ten  days  later  on 
this  occasion  ; so  that,  after  having  suffered  some 
hardships  from  this  unforeseen  cause  in  remote  parts 
of  Italy,  we  travelled  into  the  same  difficulty  in 
Greece.  But  I must  say  that  a Greek  fast  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  the  mild  and  human  fasting 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  We  should  have 
been  well-nigh  starved  had  I not  appealed,  as  was 
my  wont,  to  the  physician,  6 xupeoz  larooz , of  the 
town,  a very  amiable  and  cultivated  man,  and  really 
educated  in  the  most  philosophical  views  of  modern 
medicine.  He  was  well  acquainted,  for  example, 
with  the  clinical  practice  of  the  Dublin  school,  as 
exemplified  in  the  works  of  Graves  and  Stokes.  It 
seems  to  me,  from  a comparison  of  many  instances, 
that  in  this  matter  of  medicine,  as  indeed  generally, 
tlie  Greeks  show  remarkable  intelligence  and  enter- 
prise as  compared  with  the  nations  around  them. 
They  study  in  the  great  centres  of  European  thought. 
They  know  the  more  important  languages  in  which 
this  science  can  be  pursued.  A traveller  taken  ill 
in  the  remote  valleys  of  Arcadia  would  receive  far 
safer  and  better  treatment  than  would  be  his  lot  in 
most  parts  of  Italy. 

The  gentleman  to  whom  I appealed  in  this  case 
did  all  he  could  to  save  us  from  starvation.  He 


ANDRITZENA. 


363 


procured  for  us  excellent  fresh  curds.  He  obtained 
us  the  promise  of  meat  from  the  mountains.  He 
came  to  visit  us,  and  tell  us  what  we  required  to  know 
of  the  neighborhood.  Thus  we  were  able  to  spend 
the  earlier  portion  of  the  night  in  comparative  com- 
fort. But,  as  might  have  been  expected,  when  the 
hour  for  sleep  had  arrived  our  real  difficulties  began. 
I was  protected  by  a bottle  of  spirits  of  camphor, 
with  which  my  rugs  and  person  were  sufficiently 
scented  to  make  me  an  object  of  aversion  to  my 
assailants.  But  the  rest  of  the  party  were  not  so 
fortunate.  It  was,  in  fact,  rather  an  agreeable 
diversion,  when  we  were  roused,  or  rather,  perhaps, 
distracted,  shortly  after  midnight,  by  piercing  yells 
from  a number  of  children,  who  seemed  to  be  slowly 
approaching  our  street. 

On  looking  out  a very  curious  scene  presented 
itself.  All  the  little  children  were  coming  in  slow 
procession,  each  with  a candle  in  its  hand,  and  shout- 
ing Kyrie  Eleison  at  the  top  of  its  voice.  After  the 
children  came  the  women  and  the  older  men  (I  fancy 
many  of  the  younger  men  were  absent),  also  with 
candles,  and  in  the  midst  a sort  of  small  bier,  with 
an  image  of  the  dead  Christ  laid  out  upon  it,  decked 
with  tinsel  and  flowers,  and  surrounded  with  lights. 
Along  with  it  came  priests  in  their  robes,  singing  in 
gruff  bass  some  sort  of  Litany.  The  whole  proces- 
sion adjourned  to  the  church  of  the  town,  where  the 
women  went  to  a separate  gallery,  the  men  gathered 


364 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


in  the  body  of  the  building,  and  a guard  of  soldiers 
with  fixed  bayonets  stood  around  the  bier  of  their 
Christ.  Though  the  congregation  seemed  very 
devout,  and  many  of  them  in  tears  at  the  sufferings 
of  their  Saviour,  they  nevertheless  all  turned  round 
to  look  at  the  strangers  who  chanced  to  witness  their 
devotions.  To  those  who  come  from  without,  and 
from  a different  cult,  and  see  the  service  of  a strange 
nation  in  a strange  tongue,  the  mesquin  externals 
are  the  first  striking  point,  and  we  wonder  how  deep 
devotion  and  true  piety  can  exist  along  with  what 
is  apparently  mean  and  even  grotesque.  And  yet 
it  is  in  these  poor  and  shabby  services,  it  is  with 
this  neglect  or  insouciance  of  detail,  that  purer 
faith  and  better  morals  are  found  than  in  the  gor- 
geous pageants  and  stately  ceremonies  of  metropol- 
itan cathedrals. 

We  rose  in  the  morning  eager  to  start  on  our 
three  hours’  ride  to  Bassae,  where  Ictinus  had  built 
his  famous  but  inaccessible  temple  to  Apollo  the 
Helper.  The  temple  is  very  usually  called  the 
temple  of  Phigalia,  and  its  friezes  are  called  Phiga- 
lian,  I think,  in  the  British  Museum.  This  is  so 
far  true  that  it  was  built  for  and  managed  by  the 
people  of  Phigalia.  But  the  town  was  a consider- 
able distance  off, — according  to  Pausanias  forty 
stadia,  or  about  five  miles, — and  he  tells  us  they 
built  the  temple  at  a place  called  Bassae  (the  glades), 
near  the  summit  of  Mount  Kotilion.  Accordingly, 


THE  RIDE  TO  BASS JE. 


365 


it  ought  to  be  consistently  called  the  temple  at  or 
of  Bassse. 

The  morning,  as  is  not  unusual  in  these  Alps,  was 
lowering  and  gloomy,  and  as  we  and  our  patient 
mules  climbed  up  a steep  ascent  out  of  the  town, 
the  rain  began  to  fall  in  great  threatening  drops. 
But  we  would  not  be  daunted.  The  way  led  among 
gaunt  and  naked  mountain  sides,  and  often  up  the 
bed  of  winter  torrents.  The  lateness  of  the  spring, 
for  the  snow  was  now  hardly  gone,  added  to  the 
gloom  j the  summer  shrubs  and  the  summer  grass 
were  not  yet  green,  and  the  country  retained  most 
of  its  wintry  bleakness.  Now  and  then  there  met 
us  in  the  solitude  a shepherd  coming  from  the  moun- 
tains, covered  in  his  white  woollen  cowl,  and  with 
a lamb  of  the  same  soft  dull  color  upon  his  shoulders. 
It  was  the  day  of  preparation  for  the  Easter  feast, 
and  the  lamb  was  being  brought  by  this  picturesque 
shepherd,  not  to  the  fold,  but  to  the  slaughter.  Yet 
there  was  a strange  and  fascinating  suggestion  in  the 
serious  face  surrounded  by  its  symphony  of  white, 
in  the  wilderness  around,  in  the  helpless  patience  of 
the  animal,  all  framed  in  a background  of  gray  mist, 
and  dripping  with  abundant  rain.  As  we  wound  our 
way  through  the  mountains  we  came  to  glens  of 
richer  color  and  friendlier  aspect.  The  sound  of 
merry  boys  and  baying  dogs  reached  up  to  us  from 
below  as  we  skirted  far  up  along  the  steep  sides, 
still  seeking  a higher  and  higher  level.  Here  the 


366 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


primrose  and  violet  took  the  place  of  the  scarlet  and 
the  purple  anemone,  and  cheered  us  with  the  sight 
of  northern  flowers,  and  with  the  fairest  produce  of 
a northern  spring. 

At  last  we  attained  a weird  country,  in  which  the 
ground  was  bare,  save  wrhere  some  sheltered  and 
sunny  spot  showed  bunches  of  very  tall  violets, 
hanging  over  in  tufts,  rare  purple  anemones,  and 
here  and  there  a great  full  iris ; yet  these  patches 
were  so  exceptional  as  to  make  a strong  contrast 
with  the  brown  soil.  But  the  main  features  were 
single  oak-trees  with  pollarded  tops  and  gnarled 
branches,  which  stood  about  all  over  these  lofty 
slopes,  and  gave  them  a melancholy  and  dilapidated 
aspect.  They  showed  no  mark  of  spring,  no  shoot 
or  budding  leaf,  but  the  russet  brown  rags  of  last 
year’s  clothing  hung  here  and  there  upon  the 
branches.  These  wintry  signs,  the  gloomy  mist, 
and  the  insisting  rain  gave  us  the  feeling  of  chill 
October.  And  yet  the  weird  oaks,  with  their 
branches  tortured  as  it  were  by  storm  and  frost — 
these  crippled  limbs,  which  looked  as  if  the  pains  of 
age  and  disease  had  laid  hold  of  the  sad  tenants  of 
this  alpine  desert — were  colored  with  their  own 
peculiar  loveliness.  All  the  stems  were  clothed 
with  delicate  silver-gray  lichen,  save  where  great 
patches  of  velvety,  pale  green  moss  spread  a warm 
mantle  about  them.  This  beautiful  contrast  of  gray 
and  yellow-green  may  be  seen  upon  many  of  our 


BASSJL 


367 


own  oak-trees  in  the  winter,  and  makes  these  the 
most  richly  colored  of  all  the  leafless  stems  in  our 
frosty  landscape.  But  here  there  were  added  among 
the  branches  huge  tufts  of  mistletoe,  brighter  and 
yellower  than  the  moss,  yet  of  the  same  grassy  hue, 
though  of  different  texture.  And  there  were  trees  so 
clothed  with  this  foreign  splendor  that  they  looked  like 
some  quaint  species  of  great  evergreen.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  summer’s  foliage  must  have  really  impaired 
the  character  and  the  beauty  of  this  curious  forest. 

At  last  we  crossed  a long  flat  summit,  and  began 
to  descend,  when  we  presently  came  upon  the  temple 
from  the  north,  facing  us  on  a lower  part  of  the  lofty 
ridge.  As  we  approached,  the  mist  began  to  clear 
away,  and  the  sun  shone  out  upon  the  scene,  while 
the  clouds  rolled  back  toward  the  east,  and  gradually 
disclosed  to  us  the  splendid  prospect  which  the  sanc- 
tuary commands.  All  thq  southern  Peloponnesus 
lay  before  us.  We  could  see  the  western  sea,  and 
the  gulf  of  Koron  to  the  south  ; but  the  long  ridge 
of  Taygetus  and  the  mountains  of  Malea  hid  from 
us  the  eastern  seas.  The  rich  slopes  of  Messene, 
and  the  rugged  highlands  of  northern  Laconia  and 
of  Arcadia,  filled  up  the  nearer  view.  There  still 
remained  here  and  there  a cloud  which  made  a blot 
in  the  picture,  and  marred  the  completeness  of  the 
landscape. 

Nothing  can  be  stranger  than  the  remains  of  a 
beautiful  temple  in  this  alpine  solitude.  Greek  life 


368 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


is  a sort  of  protest  for  cities  and  plains  and  human 
culture,  against  picturesque  Alps  and  romantic 
scenery.  Yet  here  we  have  a building  of  the 
purest  age  and  type  set  up  far  from  the  cities  and 
haunts  of  men,  and  in  the  midst  of  such  a scene  as 
might  be  chosen  by  the  most  romantic  and  senti- 
mental modern.  It  was  dedicated  to  Apollo  the 
Helper,  for  his  deliverance  of  the  country  from  the 
same  plague  which  devastated  Athens  at  the  open- 
ing of  the  Peloponnesian  War,1  and  was  built  by  the 
greatest  architect  of  the  day,  Ictinus,  the  builder  of 
the  Parthenon. 

It  was  reputed  in  Pausanias’s  day  the  most  beauti- 
ful temple  in  Peloponnesus,  next  to  that  of  Athene 
Alea  at  Tegea.  Even  its  roof  was  of  marble  tiles, 
and  the  cutting  of  the  limestone  soffits  of  the  ceiling 
is  still  so  sharp  and  clear,  that  specimens  have  been 
brought  to  Athens,  as  the  most  perfect  of  the  kind. 
The  friezes,  discovered  years  ago  (1812),  and  quite 
close  to  the  surface,  by  Mr.  Cockerell  and  his  friends, 
were  carried  away,  and  are  now  one  of  the  greatest 
ornaments  of  the  British  Museum.  Any  one  who 
desires  to  know  every  detail  of  the  building,  and  see 
its  general  effect  when  restored,  must  consult  Cock- 
erell’s elaborate  work  on  this  and  the  temple  of 
iEgina.  It  affords  many  problems  to  the  architect. 
Each  of  the  pillars  within  the  cella  was  engaged  or 

1 This  is  what  Pausanias  says,  though  modern  scholars  seem 
very  doubtful  about  it. 


BASS  M. 


369 


attached  to  the  wall,  by  joinings  at  right  angles  with 
it,  the  first  pair  only  reaching  forward  toward  the 
spectator  as  he  entered.  The  temple  faces  north, 
contrary  to  the  usual  habit  of  the  Greeks.  In  the 
very  centre  was  found  a Corinthian  capital — another 
anomaly  in  a Doric  temple,  and  at  the  epoch  of 
Periclean  art.  In  Mr.  CockerelFs  restoration  of  the 
interior,  this  capital  is  fitted  to  a solitary  pillar  in 
the  centre  of  the  cella,  and  close  to  the  statue  of  the 
god,  which  apparently  faced  sideways,  and  looked 
toward  the  rising  sun.  It  is  a more  popular  theory 
that  it  was  set  up  much  later,  with  some  votive 
tripod  upon  it,  and  that  it  ‘does  not  belong  to  the 
original  structure.  The  frieze  in  this  temple  was 
not  along  the  outside  wall  of  the  cella,  but  inside, 
and  over  the  pillars,  as  the  narrow  side  aisle  (if 
I may  so  call  it)  between  the  pillars  and  cella 
wall  was  broken  by  the  joining  of  the  former, 
five  at  each  side,  with  the  latter.  I cannot  but 
fancy  that  this  transference  of  the  friezes  to  the 
inner  side  of  the  wall  was  caused  by  the  feeling 
that  the  Parthenon  friezes,  upon  which  such  great 
labor  and  such  exquisite  taste  had  been  lavished, 
were  after  all  very  badly  seen,  being  “ skied  v into 
a place  not  worthy  of  them.  Any  one  who  will  look 
up  at  the  remaining  band  on  the  west  front  of  the 
Parthenon  from  the  foot  of  the  pillars  beneath  will, 
I think,  agree  with  me.  At  Basse  there  are  many 
peculiarities  in  the  Ionic  capitals,  and  in  the  orna- 
24 


370 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


mentation  of  this  second  monument  of  Ictinus’s 
genius,  which  have  occupied  the  architects,  but  on 
which  I will  not  here  insist.1  The  general  effect  is 
one  of  smallness,  as  compared  with  the  Parthenon ; 
of  lightness  and  grace,  as  compared  with  the  temple 
at  Olympia,  the  Doric  pillars  being  here  somewhat 
more  slender  than  those  of  the  Parthenon,  though 
the  other  proportions  are  not  unlike.  The  style  of 
the  frieze  has  been  commented  upon  in  all  our  his- 
tories of  Greek  art.  The  effect  produced  is,  more- 
over, that  of  lateness,  as  compared  with  the  Athen- 
ian sculptures  ; there  is  more  exaggerated  action, 
flying  drapery  and  contorted  limbs,  and  altogether  a 
conscious  striving  to  give  a strong  effect.  But  the  exe- 
cution, which  was  probably  entrusted  to  native  artists 
under  Attic  direction,  is  inferior  to  good  Attic  work, 
and  in  some  cases  positively  faulty.  Unfortunately, 
this  part  of  the  temple  is  in  London,  not  at  Bassse. 

1 Several  details,  such  as  the  unusual  length  in  proportion  to 
the  breadth,  the  engaged  pillars  inside  the  cella,  and  the  forms  of 
the  capitals,  have  now  been  explained  as  deliberate  archaicisms  on 
the  part  of  Ictinus,  who  here  copied  far  older  forms.  The  curious 
Ionic,  and  even  the  Corinthian,  capitals,  may  point  back  to  old 
Asianic,  or  Assyrian,  models,  and  the  proportions  of  the  cella  with 
its  engaged  pillars  have  their  prototype  or  parallel  in  the  curious 
old  Herceon  (cf.  p.  304)  found  at  Olympia.  This  seems  to  me  a 
very  happy  solution  of  the  difficulties,  and  shows  us  Ictinus  in  a 
new  light.  Another  specimen  of  his  art,  with  unexpected  features, 
may  be  the  newly  unearthed  Hall  of  the  Mysteries  at  Eleusis, 
already  described,  if  indeed  this  be  his  work,  and  not  a late  copy 
of  it. 


BASSJS. 


371 


The  ruin,  as  we  saw  it,  was  very  striking  and  un- 
like any  other  we  had  visited  in  Greece.  It  is  built 
of  the  limestone  which  crops  up  all  over  the  moun- 
tain plateau  on  which  it  stands ; and,  as  the  sun 
shone  upon  it  after  recent  rain,  was  of  a delicate 
bluish-gray  color,  so  like  the  surface  of  the  ground 
in  tone  that  it  almost  seemed  to  have  grown  out  of 
the  rock,  as  its  natural  product.  The  pillars  are 
indeed  by  no  means  monoliths,  but  set  together  of 
short  drums,  of  which  the  inner  row  are  but  the 
rounded  ends  of  long  blocks  which  reach  back  to 
the  cella  wall.  But  as  the  grain  of  the  stone  runs 
across  the  pillars  they  have  become  curiously 
wrinkled  with  age,  so  that  the  artificial  joinings  are 
lost  among  the  wavy  transverse  lines,  which  make 
us  imagine  the  pillars  sunk  with  years  and  fatigue, 
and  weary  of  standing  in  this  wild  and  gloomy 
solitude.  There  is  a great  oak-tree,  such  as  I have 
already  described,  close  beside  the  temple,  and  the 
coloring  of  its  stem  forms  a curious  contras  to  the 
no  less  beautiful  shading  of  the  time-worn  pillars. 
Their  ground  being  a pale  bluish-gray,  the  lichens 
which  invade  the  stone  have  varied  the  fluted  sur- 
face with  silver,  with  bright  orange,  and  still  more 
with  a delicate  rose  madder.  Even  under  a mid-day 
sun  these  rich  colors  were  very  wonderful,  but  what 
must  they  be  at  sunset  ? 

There  is  something  touching  in  the  unconscious 
efforts  of  Nature  to  fill  up  the  breaks  and  heal  the 


372 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


rents  which  time  and  desolation  have  made  in  human 
work.  Tf  a gap  occurs  in  the  serried  ranks  of  city 
buildings  by  sudden  accident  or  natural  decay,  the 
site  is  forthwith  concealed  with  hideous  boarding  ; 
upon  which,  presently,  staring  portraits  of  latest 
clown  or  merriest  mountebank  mock  as  it  were  the 
ruin  within,  and  advertise  their  idle  mirth — an  uglier 
fringe  around  the  ugly  stains  of  lire  or  the  heaps 
of  formless  masonry.  How  different  is  the  hand  of 
Nature  ! Whether  in  the  northern  abbey  or  in  the 
southern  fane,  no  sooner  are  the  monuments  of 
human  patience  and  human  pride  abandoned  and 
forgotten,  than  Nature  takes  them  into  her  gentle 
care,  covers  them  with  ivy,  with  lichen,  and  with 
moss,  plants  her  shrubs  about  them,  and  sows  them 
with  countless  flowers.  And  thus,  when  a later  age 
repents  the  ingratitude  of  its  forerunners,  and  turns 
with  new  piety  to  atone  for  generations  of  forgetful- 
ness, Nature’s  mantle  has  concealed  from  harm  much 
that  had  else  been  destroyed,  and  covered  the  re- 
mainder with  such  beauty  that  we  can  hardly  con- 
ceive these  triumphs  of  human  art  more  lovely  in 
their  old  perfection  than  in  their  modern  solitude 
and  decay. 

The  way  from  Andritzena  to  Megalopolis  leads 
down  from  the  rugged  frontiers  of  Arcadia  and 
Messene,  till  we  reach  the  fine  rolling  plain  which 
has  Karytena  at  its  northern,  and  Megalopolis  near 


MEGALOPOLIS. 


373 


its  southern,  extremity.  Our  guides  were  in  high 
spirits,  and  kept  singing  in  turn  a quaint  love  song, 
which,  after  the  usual  timeless  flourishes  and  shakes 
at  the  opening,  ended  in  the  following  phrase, 
which  their  constant  repetition  stamped  upon  my 
memory  : 


r-Q-  n * 1 

ri.  wzr^r  r 





r/r  z r 

r r r 

rrrr\  a ^ ***■  i a i n i l * r~ 

cw_a 

r 1 

L L 

The  way  was  at  first  steep  and  difficult — we  were 
still  in  the  land  of  the  violet  and  primrose.  But  after 
an  hour’s  ride  we  came  into  a forest  which  already 
showed  summer  signs ; and  here  we  found  again  the 
anemone,  the  purple  and  white  cistus,  among  shrubs 
of  mastich  and  arbutus.  Here,  too,  we  found  the 
cyclamen,  which  is  such  a favorite  in  the  green- 
houses and  gardens  of  England.  We  passed  a few 
miles  to  the  south  of  Karytena,  with  its  wonderful, 
and  apparently  impregnable  Frankish  fortress  perched 
like  an  eagle’s  nest  on  the  top  of  a huge  cliff,  from 
which  there  must  be  a splendid  outlook  not  only  down 
the  valley  of  Megalopolis,  but  into  the  northern 
passes  from  Achaia,  and  the  mountains  of  Elis.  I 
can  conceive  no  military  post  more  important  to  the 
Arcadian  plain,  and  yet  it  seems  to  have  attained 
no  celebrity  in  ancient  history.  From  this  fortress 
to  the  southern  end  of  the  plain,  where  the  passes 
lead  to  Sparta  and  to  northern  Messene,  there  lies 
extended  a very  rich  vein  of  country  about  twenty- 


374 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


five  miles  long,  and  ten  or  twelve  broad,  with  some 
undulation,  but  practically  a plain,  well  irrigated 
with  rapid  rivers,  and  waving  with  deep  grass  and 
green  wheat.  There  are  flourishing  villages  scat- 
tered along  the  slopes  of  the  mountains,  and  all  the 
district  seems  thoroughly  tilled,  except  the  region 
south  of  the  town,  where  forests  of  olives  give  a 
wilder  tone  to  the  landscape. 

I confess  I had  not  understood  the  history  of  the 
celebrated  foundation  of  Megalopolis,  until  I came 
to  study  the  features  of  this  plain.  Here,  as  else- 
where, personal  acquaintance  with  the  geography 
of  the  country  is  the  necessary  condition  of  a living 
knowledge  of  its  history.  As  is  well  known,  imme- 
diately after  the  battle  of  Leuctra  the  Arcadians 
proceeded  to  build  this  metropolis,  as  a safeguard 
or  makeweight  against  the  neighboring  power  of 
Sparta.  Pausanias,  who  is  very  full  and  instructive 
on  the  founding  of  the  city,  tells  us  that  the  foun- 
ders came  from  the  chief  towns  of  Arcadia — Tegea, 
Mantinea,  Kleitor,  and  Msenalus.  But  these  cities 
had  no  intention  of  merging  themselves  in  the  new 
capital.  In  fact,  Mantinea  and  Tegea  were  in  them- 
selves fully  as  important  a check  on  Sparta  in  their 
own  valley,  and  were  absolutely  necessary  to  hold 
the  passes  northward  to  Argos,  which  lay  in  that 
direction.  But  the  nation  insisted  upon  all  the 
village  populations  in  and  around  the  western  plain 
(which  hitherto  had  possessed  no  leading  city)  amal- 


MEGALOPOLIS. 


375 


gamating  into  Megalopolis,  and  deserting  their  an- 
cient homes.  Many  obeyed  ; Pausanias  enumerates 
about  forty  of  them.  Those  who  refused  were  ex- 
iled, or  even  massacred  by  the  enraged  majority. 
Thus  there  arose  suddenly  the  great  city , the  latest 
foundation  of  a city  in  Classical  Greece.  But  in 
his  account  it  seems  to  me  that  Pausanias  has  omit- 
ted to  take  sufficient  note  of  the  leading  spirit  of 
all  the  movement — the  Theban  Epaminondas.  No 
doubt,  the  traveller’s  Arcadian  informants  were  too 
thoroughly  blinded  by  national  vanity  to  give  him 
the  real  account,  if  indeed,  they  knew  it  themselves. 
They  represented  it  as  the  spontaneous  movement 
of  the  nation,  and  even  stated  it  to  have  been  done 
in  imitation  of  Argos,  which  in  older  times,  when  in 
almost  daily  danger  of  Spartan  war,  had  abolished 
all  the  townships  through  Argolis,  and  thus  increased 
its  power  and  consolidated  its  population. 

But  the  advice  and  support  of  Epaminondas, 
which  made  him  the  real  founder,  point  to  another 
model.  The  traveller  who  comes,  after  he  has  seen 
northern  Greece,  into  the  plain  of  Megalopolis,  is  at 
once  struck  with  its  extraordinary  likeness  to  that 
of  Thebes.  There  is  the  same  circuit  of  mountains, 
the  same  undulation  in  the  plain,  the  same  abun- 
dance of  water,  the  same  attractive  sites  on  the  slopes 
for  the  settlements  of  men.  It  was  not  then  Argos, 
with  its  far  remote  and  not  very  successful  central- 
ization, but  Thebes,  which  was  the  real  model ; and 


376 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  idea  was  brought  out  into  actuality  not  by  Arca- 
dian but  by  Theban  statesmanship.  Any  Theban 
who  had  visited  the  plain  could  not  but  have  this 
policy  suggested  to  him  by  the  memory  of  his  own 
home.  But  here  Epaminondas  seems  to  have  con- 
cealed his  influence,  and  carried  out  his  policy 
through  Arcadian  agents,  merely  sending  1000 
Thebans,  under  Pammenes,  to  secure  his  allies 
against  hostile  disturbances,  whereas  he  proceeded 
to  the  foundation  of  Messene  in  person,  and  with 
great  circumstance,  as  the  dreams  and  oracles,  the 
discussions  about  the  site,  and  the  pomp  at  the  cere- 
mony amply  show,  even  in  the  cold  narrative  of 
Pausanias.  But  Megalopolis,  though  a great  and 
brilliant  experiment,  was  not  a lasting  success.  It 
was  laid  out  on  too  large  a scale,  and  in  after  years 
became  rather  a great  wilderness  than  a great  city.1 
It  was  full  of  splendid  buildings — the  theatre,  even 
now,  is  one  of  the  most  gigantic  in  Greece.  But 
the  violences  of  its  foundation,  which  tore  from 
their  homes  and  household  gods  many  citizens  of 
ancient  and  hallowed  sites,  were  never  forgotten. 
It  was  long  a leading  city  in  politics,  but  never 
became  a favorite  residence,  and  fell  early  into 


1 The  same  must  have  been  the  case  with  Messene,  which  was 
laid  out  likewise  bv  Epaminondas  on  an  absurdly  large  scale,  as 
the  remains  of  the  great  walls  still  show.  They  seem  intended  to 
enclose  a whole  parish,  and  not  a city.  But  of  these  I shall  speak 
again,  p.  452. 


MEGALOPOLIS. 


377 


decay.  u Although/’  says  Pausanias  (8.  33),  u the 
great  city  was  founded  with  all  zeal  by  the  Arca- 
dians, and  with  the  brightest  expectations  on  the 
part  of  the  Greeks,  I am  not  astonished  that  it  has 
lost  all  its  elegance  and  ancient  splendor,  and  most 
of  it  is  now  ruined,  for  I know  that  Providence  is 
pleased  to  work  perpetual  change,  and  that  all 
things  alike,  both  strong  and  weak,  whether  com- 
ing into  life  or  passing  into  nothingness,  are  changed 
by  a Fortune  which  controls  them  with  an  iron  ne- 
cessity. Thus  Mycense,  Nineveh,  and  the  Boeotian 
Thebes  are  for  the  most  part  completely  deserted  and 
destroyed,  but  the  name  of  Thebes  has  descended  to 
the  mere  acropolis  and  very  few  inhabitants.  Others, 
formerly  of  extraordinary  wealth,  the  Egyptian 
Thebes  and  the  Minyan  Orchomenus  and  Delos, 
the  common  mart  of  the  Greeks,  are  some  of  them 
inferior  in  wealth  to  that  of  a private  man  of  not 
the  richest  class ; while  Delos,  being  deprived  of  the 
charge  of  the  Oracle  by  the  Athenians  who  settled 
there,  is,  as  regards  Delians,  depopulated.  At  Baby- 
lon the  temple  of  Belus  remains,  but  of  this  Baby- 
lon, once  the  greatest  city  under  the  sun,  there  is 
nothing  left  but  the  wall,  as  there  is  of  Tiryns  in 
Argolis.  These  the  Deity  has  reduced  to  naught. 
But  the  city  of  Alexander  in  Egypt,  and  of  Seleu- 
cus  on  the  Orontes,  built  the  other  day,  have  risen 
to  such  greatness  and  prosperity,  because  Fortune 
favors  them.  . . . Thus  the  affairs  of  men  have 


378 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


their  seasons,  and  are  by  no  means  permanent.” 
These  words  of  Pausanias  have  but  increased  in 
force  with  the  lapse  of  centuries.  The  whole  an- 
cient capital  of  the  Arcadians  has  well-nigh  disap- 
peared. The  theatre,  cut  out  from  the  deep  earthen 
river  bank,  and  faced  along  the  wings  with  massive 
masonry,  is  still  visible,  though  overgrown  with 
shrubs ; and  the  English  school  of  Athens  is  now 
prosecuting  its  exploration  (1892). 

The  ancient  town  lay  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
Helisson,  which  is  a broad  and  silvery  stream,  but 
not  difficult  to  ford,  as  we  saw  it  in  spring,  and  Pau- 
sanias mentions  important  public  buildings  on  both 
banks.  Now  there  seems  nothing  but  a mound, 
called  the  tomb  of  Philopoemen,  on  the  north  side, 
with  a few  scanty  foundations.  On  the  south  side 
the  stylobate  of  at  least  one  temple  is  still  almost  on 
the  level  of  the  soil,  and  myriads  of  fragments  of 
baked  clay  tell  us  that  this  material  was  largely 
used  in  the  walls  of  a city  where  a rich  alluvial 
soil  afforded  a very  scanty  supply  of  stone — a dif- 
ficulty rare  in  Greece.  The  modern  town  lies  a 
mile  to  the  south  of  the  river,  and  quite  clear  of  the 
old  site,  so  that  excavations  can  be  made  without 
considerable  cost,  and  with  good  hope  of  results. 
But  the  absence  of  any  really  archaic  monument  has, 
till  recently,  damped  the  ardor  of  the  archaeologists. 

The  aspect  of  the  present  Megalopolis  is  very 
pleasing.  Its  streets  are  wide  and  clean,  though 


MEGALOPOLIS. 


379 


for  the  most  part  grown  over  with  grass,  and  a 
single  dark  green  cypress  takes,  as  it  were,  the 
place  of  a spire  among  the  flat  roofs.  We  found 
the  town  in  holiday,  and  the  inhabitants — at  least 
the  men — in  splendid  attire.  For  the  women  of  the 
Morea  have,  alas ! abandoned  their  national  costume, 
and  appear  in  tawdry  and  ill-made  dresses.  Even 
the  men  who  have  travelled  adopt  the  style  of  third- 
rate  Frenchmen  or  Germans,  and  go  about  in  tall 
hats,  with  a dirty  gray  plaid  wrapped  about  their 
shoulders.  To  see  these  shoddy-looking  persons 
among  a crowd  of  splendid  young  men  in  Palikar 
dress,  with  the  erect  carriage  and  kingly  mien 
which  that  very  tight  costume  produces,  is  like 
seeing  a miserable  street  cur  among  a pack  of  fox- 
hounds. And  yet  we  were  informed  that,  for  polit- 
ical reasons,  and  in  order  to  draw  the  Greeks  from 
their  isolation  into  European  habits,  the  national 
dress  is  now  forbidden  in  the  schools ! 

We  were  welcomed  with  excellent  hospitality  in 
the  town,  and  received  by  a fine  old  gentleman, 
whose  sons,  two  splendid  youths  in  full  costume,  at- 
tended us  in  person.  Being  people  of  moderate 
means,  they  allowed  us,  with  a truer  friendliness  than 
that  of  more  ostentatious  hosts,  to  pay  for  the  most 
of  the  materials  we  required,  which  they  got  for  us 
of  the  best  quality,  at  the  lowest  price,  and  cooked 
and  prepared  them  for  us  in  the  house.  We  inquired 
of  the  father  what  prospects  were  open  to  his  hand- 


380 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


some  sons,  who  seemed  born  to  be  soldiers — the 
ornaments  of  a royal  pageant  in  peace,  the  stay  of 
panic  in  battle.  He  complained  that  there  was  no 
scope  for  their  energies.  Of  course,  tilling  of  the 
soil  could  never  satisfy  them.  One  of  them  was  sec- 
retary to  the  Demarchus , on  some  miserable  salary. 
He  had  gone  as  far  as  Alexandria  to  seek  his  for- 
tune, but  had  come  home  again,  with  the  tastes  and 
without  the  wealth  of  a rich  townsman.  So  they 
are  fretting  away  their  life  in  idleness.  I fear  that 
such  cases  are  but  too  common  in  the  country  towns 
of  Greece. 

The  people  brought  us  to  see  many  pieces  of 
funeral  slabs,  of  marble  pillars,  and  of  short  and  late 
inscriptions  built  into  house  walls.  They  also  sold 
us  good  coins  of  Philip  of  Macedon  at  a moderate 
price.  The  systematic  digging  about  the  old  site 
undertaken  by  the  English  school  will  probably  bring 
to  light  many  important  remains.1  There  is  a car- 
riage road  from  Megalopolis  to  Argos,  but  the  portion 
inside  the  town  was  then  only  just  finished,  so  we 
preferred  riding  as  far  as  Tripoli.  Travellers  now 
landing  at  Argos  will  find  it  quite  practicable  to 
drive  from  the  coast  to  this  central  plain  of  Arcadia, 
and  then  begin  their  riding.  There  is  now,  alas  ! a 

1 The  results  hitherto  attained  are  still  uncertain,  owing  to  an 
active  controversy  between  I)r.  Dorpfeld  and  the  English  ex- 
plorers, which  has  not  yet  (1892)  been  settled.  I forbear  entering 
upon  it  here. 


A Greek  Peasant  in  National  Costume 


TRIPOLITZA. 


381 


railway  from  Argos  to  Tripoli  in  progress.  By  this 
means  even  ladies  can  easily  cross  the  Morea.  Two 
days’  driving  to  Megalopolis,  two  days’  riding  to  Olym- 
pia, and  an  easy  day’s  drive  and  train  to  Katakalo, 
would  be  the  absolute  time  required  for  the  transit. 
But  the  difficulty  is  still  to  tind  a comfortable  night’s 
lodging  between  the  first  and  second  day’s  ride,  both 
of  them  long  and  fatiguing  journeys.  Andritzena  is 
too  near  Megalopolis,  and  not  to  be  recommended 
without  introductions.  But  there  is  probably  some 
village  on  another  route  which  would  afford  a half- 
way house.  From  Tripoli  and  from  Megalopolis, 
which  command  their  respective  plains,  excursions 
could  be  made  to  Mantinea,  to  Sparta,  and  best  of 
all  to  Kalamata,  where  a coasting  steamer  calls  fre- 
quently. 

As  we  rode  up  the  slopes  of  Mount  Msenalus, 
which  separates  the  plain  of  Tegea  from  that  of 
Megalopolis,  we  often  turned  to  admire  the  splendid 
view  beneath,  and  count  the  numerous  villages  now 
as  of  old  under  the  headship  of  the  great  town.  The 
most  striking  feature  was  doubtless  the  snowy  ridge 
of  Taygetus,  which  reaches  southward,  and  showed 
us  the  course  of  the  Eurotas  on  its  eastern  side, 
along  which  a twelve  hours’  ride  brings  the  traveller 
to  Sparta.  The  country  into  which  we  passed  was 
wild  and  barren  in  the  extreme,  and,  like  most  so- 
called  mountains  in  Greece,  consisted  of  a series  of 
parallel  and  of  intersecting  ridges,  with  short  valleys 


382 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


or  high  plateaus  between  them.  This  journey,  per- 
haps the  bleakest  in  all  Peloponnesus,  until  it  ap- 
proaches the  plain  of  Tegea,  is  through  Mount 
Msenalus,  the  ancestral  seat  of  the  worship  of  Pan, 
and  therefore  more  than  any  other  tract  of  Arcadia 
endowed  with  pastoral  richness  and  beauty  by  the 
poets.  There  may  be  more  fertile  tracts  farther 
north  in  these  mountains.  There  may  in  ancient 
times  have  been  forest  or  verdure  where  all  is  now 
bare.  But  in  the  present  day  there  is  no  bleaker 
and  more  barren  tract  than  these  slopes  and  summits 
of  Msenalus,  which  are  wholly  different  from  the 
richly  wooded  and  well  carpeted  mountains  through 
which  we  had  passed  on  the  way  from  Elis.  Even 
the  asphodel,  which  covers  all  the  barer  and  stonier 
tracts  with  its  fields  of  bloom,  was  here  scarce  and 
poor.  Dull  tortoises,  and  quick-glancing  hoopoes, 
with  their  beautiful  head-dresses,  were  the  only  ten- 
ants of  this  solitude.  There  was  here  and  there  a 
spring  of  delicious  water  where  we  stopped.  At  one 
of  them  the  best  of  our  ponies,  an  unusually  spirited 
animal,  escaped  up  the  mountain,  with  one  of  our 
royal-looking  young  friends,  who  had  accompanied 
us  in  full  costume,  for  want  of  other  amusement,  in 
hot  pursuit  of  him.  We  thought  the  chase  utterly 
hopeless,  as  the  pony  knew  his  way  perfectly,  and 
would  not  let  any  one  approach  him  on  the  bare  hill- 
sides ; so  we  consolidated  our  baggage,  and  left  them 
to  their  fate.  But  about  two  hours  afterward  the 


TRIPOLITZA. 


383 


young  Greek  came  galloping  after  us  on  the  pony, 
which  he  had  caught — he  had  accomplished  the 
apparently  impossible  feat. 

At  last,  after  a very  hot  and  stony  ride,  with  less 
color  and  less  beauty  than  we  had  ever  yet  found  in 
Greece,  we  descended  into  the  great  valley  of  Trip- 
oli, formerly  held  by  Tegea  at  the  south,  and  Man- 
tinea  at  the  north.  The  modern  town  lies  between 
the  ancient  sites,  but  nearer  to  Tegea,  which  is  not 
an  hour’s  ride  distant.  The  old  Tripolis,  of  which 
the  villages  were  absorbed  by  Megalopolis,  is  placed 
by  the  geographers  in  quite  another  part  of  Arcadia, 
near  Gortyn,  and  due  north  of  the  western  plain. 
The  vicissitudes  of  the  modern  town  are  well  known  ; 
its  importance  under  the  Turks,  its  terrible  destruc- 
tion by  the  Egyptians  in  the  War  of  Liberation  fl 
even  now,  though  not  a house  is  more  than  fifty 
years  old,  it  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  impor- 
tant towns  in  the  Morea. 

The  whole  place  was  in  holiday,  it  being  the 
Greek  Easter  Day,  and  hundreds  of  men  in  full 
costume  crowded  the  large  square  in  the  middle  of 
the  town.  There  is  a considerable  manufacture  of 
what  are  commonly  called  Turkey  carpets,  and  of 


1 It  is  usually  forgotten  in  recent  accounts  that  this  sacking  of 
the  town  was  no  more  than  a retribution  for  the  hideous  massacre 
of  the  whole  Turkish  population,  including  women  and  children, 
in  cold  blood,  by  the  insurgent  Greeks.  The  details  may  be  had 
in  General  Gordon’s  Memoirs  or  in  Finlay’s  History. 


384 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


silk  ; but  the  carpets  have  of  late  years  lost  all  the 
beauty  and  harmony  of  color  for  which  they  were 
so  justly  admired,  and  are  now  copied  from  the 
worst  Bavarian  work — tawdry  and  vulgar  in  the  ex- 
treme. They  are  sold  by  weight,  and  are  not  dear, 
but  they  were  so  exceedingly  ugly  that  we  could  not 
buy  them.  This  decadence  of  taste  is  strange  when 
compared  with  the  woollen  work  of  Arachova.  If 
the  colors  of  the  Arachovite  rugs  were  transferred 
to  the  carpets  of  Tripoli,  nothing  could  be  more 
effective,  or  more  likely  to  attract  English  buyers. 
I could  not  learn  that  any  passing  travellers  save 
some  Germans,  are  now  ever  tempted  to  carry  them 
home. 

It  is  my  disagreeable  duty  to  state  that  while  the 
inn  at  Tripoli  was  no  better  than  other  country  inns 
in  Arcadia,  and  full  of  noise  and  disturbance,  the 
innkeeper,  a gentleman  in  magnificent  costume,  with 
a crimson  vest  and  gaiters,  covered  with  rich  em- 
broidery, also  turned  out  a disgraceful  villain,  in  fact 
quite  up  to  the  mark  of  the  innkeepers  of  whom 
Plato  in  his  day  complained.  We  had  no  comforts, 
we  had  bad  food,  we  had  the  locks  of  our  baggage 
strained,  not  indeed  by  thieves,  but  by  curious 
neighbors,  who  wished  to  see  the  contents ; we  had 
dinner,  a night’s  lodging,  and  breakfast,  for  which 
the  host  charged  us,  a party  of  four  and  a servant, 
1 18  francs.  And  be  it  remembered  that  the  wine  of 
the  country,  which  we  drank,  is  cheaper  than  ale  in 


TEGEA. 


385 


England.  We  appealed  at  once  to  the  magistrate,  a 
very  polite  and  reasonable  man,  who  cut  it  down  to 
84  francs,  still  an  exorbitant  sum,  and  one  which  our 
friend  quietly  pocketed  without  further  remonstrance. 
It  is  therefore  advisable  either  to  go  with  introduc- 
tions, which  we  had  (but  our  party  was  too  large  for 
private  hospitality),  or  to  stipulate  beforehand  con- 
cerning prices.  I mention  such  conduct  as  excep- 
tional— we  met  it  only  here,  at  Sparta,  and  at 
Nauplia ; but  I fear  Tripoli  is  not  an  honest  district. 
A coat  and  rug  which  were  dropped  accidentally 
from  a mule  were  picked  up  by  the  next  wayfarer, 
who  carried  them  off,  though  we  had  passed  him  but 
a few  hundred  yards,  and  there  could  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  owners.  Our  guides  knew  his  village, 
and  our  property  was  telegraphed  for,  but  never 
reappeared. 

The  site  of  Tegea,  where  there  is  now  a con- 
siderable village,  is  more  interesting,  being  quite 
close  to  the  passes  which  lead  to  Sparta,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a panorama  of  rocky  mountains.  The 
morning  was  cloudy,  and  lights  and  shades  were 
coursing  alternately  over  the  view.  There  were  no 
trees,  but  the  surface  of  the  rocks  took  splendid 
changing  hues — gray,  pink,  and  deep  purple — while 
the  rich  soil  beneath  alternated  between  brilliant 
green  and  ruddy  brown.  As  the  plain  of  Mega- 
lopolis reminded  me  of  that  of  Thebes,  so  this  plain 
of  Tegea,  though  infinitely  richer  in  soil,  yet  had 

25 


386 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


many  features  singularly  like  that  of  Attica,  especi- 
ally  its  bareness,  and  the  splendid  colors  of  its  bar- 
ren mountains.  But  the  climate  is  very  different  at 
this  great  height  above  the  sea  j the  nights,  and  even 
the  mornings  and  evenings,  were  still  chilly,  and  the 
crops  are  still  green  when  the  harvest  has  begun  in 
Attica.  There  are  a good  many  remains,  especially 
of  the  necropolis  of  Tegea,  to  be  found  scattered 
through  the  modern  village,  chiefly  in  the  walls  of 
new  houses.  One  of  these  reliefs  contained  a very 
good  representation  of  a feast — two  men  and  two 
women,  the  latter  sitting,  and  alternately  with  the 
men  ; the  whole  work  seemed  delicate,  and  of  a good 
epoch.  These  and  other  remains,  especially  an  ex- 
cellent relief  of  a lion,  are  now  gathered  into  the 
little  museum  of  the  village  of  Piali,  which  occupies 
part  of  the  ancient  site.  The  circuit  of  the  ancient 
walls  and  the  site  and  plan  of  the  great  temple  of 
Athena  Alea  have  also  recently  been  determined. 
The  temple,  rebuilt  by  Scopas  about  395  b.  c.,  had 
Corinthian  as  well  as  Ionic  capitals,  though  exter- 
nally Doric  in  character.  Some  remarkable  remains 
of  the  pediment,  especially  a boar’s  head,  are  now  in 
the  Museum  at  Athens. 

The  way  to  Argos  is  a good  carriage  road  through 
the  passes  of  Mount  Parthenion,  and  is  not  unlike 
the  bleak  ride  through  Mamalus,  though  there  is  a 
great  deal  more  tillage,  and  in  some  places  the  hill- 
sides are  terraced  with  cultivation.  It  was  in  this 


ARGOS. 


387 


mountain  that  the  god  Pan  met  the  celebrated  runner 
Phidippides,  who  was  carrying  his  despatch  about 
the  Persian  invasion  from  Athens  to  Sparta,  and  told 
him  he  would  come  and  help  the  Athenians  at  Mara- 
thon. This  Mount  Parthenion,  bleak  and  bare  like 
Mount  Msenalus,  and  yet  like  it  peculiarly  sacred  to 
Pan,  u affords  tortoises  most  suitable  for  the  making 
of  lyres,  which  the  men  who  inhabit  the  mountains 
are  afraid  to  catch,  nor  do  they  allow  strangers  to 
catch  them,  for  they  think  them  sacred  to  Pan.” 
We  saw  these  tortoises,  both  in  Msenalus  and  Par- 
thenion,  yet  to  us  suggestive  not  of  harmony  but  of 
discord.  Two  of  them  were  engaged  in  mortal  com- 
bat by  the  road  side.  They  were  rushing  at  each 
other,  and  battering  the  edges  of  their  shells  together, 
apparently  in  the  attempt  to  overturn  each  other. 
After  a long  and  even  conflict,  one  of  them  fled, 
pursued  by  the  other  at  full  speed,  indeed  far 
quicker  than  could  be  imagined.  We  watched  the 
battle  till  we  were  tired,  and  left  the  pursuer  and 
the  pursued  in  the  excitement  of  their  deadly  strug- 
gle. The  traveller  who  goes  by  the  new  railroad 
over  this  ground  will  never  see  sights  like  this. 

These  were  the  principal  adventures  of  our  tour 
across  Arcadia.  The  following  night  we  rested  in 
real  luxury  at  the  house  of  our  old  guest-friend, 
Dr.  Papalexopoulos,  whose  open  mansion  had  re- 
ceived us  two  years  before,  on  our  first  visit  to 
Argos. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


CORINTH — TIRYNS — ARGOS — NAUPLIA — HYDRA — 
iEGINA EPIDAURUS. 

The  Gulf  of  Corinth  is  a very  beautiful  and  narrow 
fiord,  with  chains  of  mountains  on  either  side,  through 
the  gaps  of  which  you  can  see  far  into  the  Morea 
on  one  side,  and  into  northern  Greece  on  the  other. 
But  the  bays  or  harbors  on  either  coast  are  few,  and 
so  there  was  no  city  able  to  wrest  the  commerce  of 
these  waters  from  old  Corinth,  which  held  the  keys 
by  land  of  the  whole  Peloponnesus,  and  commanded 
the  passage  from  sea  to  sea.  It  is,  indeed,  wonder- 
ful how  Corinth  did  not  acquire  and  maintain  the 
first  position  in  Greece.  It  may,  perhaps,  have 
done  so  in  the  days  of  Periander,  and  we  hear  at 
various  times  of  inventions  and  discoveries  in 
Corinth,  which  show  that,  commercially  and  artistic- 
ally, it  was  among  the  leading  cities  of  Greece. 
But,  whenever  the  relations  of  the  various  powers 
become  clear,  as  in  the  Persian  or  Peloponnesian 
Wars,  we  find  Corinth  always  at  the  head  of  the 
second-rate  states,  and  never  among  the  first.  This 
is  possibly  to  be  accounted  for  by  the  predominance 

388 


CORINTH. 


389 


of  trade  interests,  which  are  the  source  of  such  ma- 
terial prosperity  that  men  are  completely  engrossed 
with  it,  and  will  not  devote  time  and  labor  to  politics, 
or  stake  their  fortunes  for  the  defence  of  principle. 
Thus  it  seems  as  if  the  Corinthians  had  been  the 
shopkeepers  of  Greece. 

But  as  soon  as  the  greater  powers  of  Greece  de- 
cayed and  fell  away,  we  find  Corinth  immediately 
taking  the  highest  position  in  wealth,  and  even  in 
importance.  The  capture  of  Corinth,  in  146  B.  C., 
marks  the  Roman  conquest  of  all  Greece,  and  the 
art-treasures  carried  to  Rome  seem  to  have  been  as 
great  and  various  as  those  which  even  Athens  could 
have  produced.  Its  commercial  position  was  at  once 
assumed  by  Delos.  No  sooner  had  Julius  Csesar 
restored  and  rebuilt  the  ruined  city  than  it  sprang 
at  once  again  into  importance,1  while  Delos  decayed ; 
and  among  the  societies  addressed  in  the  Epistles  of 
St.  Paul,  none  seems  to  have  lived  in  greater  wealth 
or  luxury.  It  was,  in  fact,  well-nigh  impossible  that 
Corinth  should  die.  Nature  had  marked  out  her  site 
as  one  of  the  great  thoroughfares  of  the  old  world ; 
and  it  was  not  till  after  centuries  of  blighting  mis- 
rule by  the  wretched  Turks  that  she  sank  into  the 

1 Strabo  mentions  that  the  new  settlers,  coming  upon  old  tombs 
in  the  digging  for  new  foundations,  found  there  quantities  of  grace- 
ful pottery,  which  was  sold  to  Romans,  and  became  the  fashion 
there.  Hence  it  was  diligently  sought  and  sold  under  the  title 
vEKpoKopivdia.  We  may  be  sure  that  every  ancient  tomb  was  rifled 
in  this  way. 


390 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


hopeless  decay  from  which  not  even  another  Julius 
Caesar  could  rescue  her.1 

These  were  our  reflections  as  we  passed  up  the 
gulf  on  a splendid  summer  evening,  the  mountains 
of  Arcadia  showing  on  their  snowy  tops  a deep  rose 
color  in  the  setting  sun.  And  passing  by  iEgion 
and  Sikyon,  we  came  to  anchor  at  the  harbor  of 
Lechaeum.  There  was  a public  conveyance  which 
took  the  traveller  across  the  isthmus  to  Kenchreae, 
where  a steamboat  was  in  readiness  to  bring  him 
to  Athens.  But  with  the  usual  absurdity  of  such 
services,  no  time  was  allowed  for  visiting  Corinth 
and  its  Acropolis.2  We,  however,  stayed  for  the 
night  in  the  boat,  and  started  in  the  morning  for  our 
ride  into  the  Peloponnesus.  This  arrangement  was 
then  necessary,  as  the  port  of  Lechaeum  did  not 
afford  the  traveller  even  the  luxury  of  a decent 
meal.  The  Greek  steamers  are,  besides,  of  con- 
siderable interest  to  any  observant  person.  They 
seem  always  full  of  passengers  with  their  dogs,  and 
as  the  various  classes  mix  indiscriminately  on  deck, 
all  sorts  of  manners,  costume,  and  culture  can  be 
easily  compared. 

1 On  the  foundation  of  the  new  Greek  kingdom,  it  was  seriously 
debated  whether  Corinth  should  not  be  the  capital ; but  the  con- 
stant prevalence  of  fever  in  the  district,  together  with  sentimental 
reasons,  determined  the  selection  of  Athens  in  preference. 

2 Even  the  new  railway  has  not  altered  this.  The  journey  up 
and  down  the  bay  in  a coasting  steamer  is  still  well  worth  under- 
taking. 


LECHiEUM. 


391 


The  fondness  of  the  Greeks  for  driving  a bargain 
is  often  to  be  noticed.  Thus,  a Greek  gentleman  on 
this  boat,  perceiving  that  we  were  strangers  in  pursuit 
of  art  and  antiquities,  produced  two  very  fine  gold 
coins  of  Philip  and  Alexander,  which  he  offered  for 
£5.  That  of  Philip  was  particularly  beautiful — a 
very  perfect  Greek  head  in  profile,  crowned  with 
laurel,  and  on  the  reverse  a chariot  and  four,  with 
the  legend,  Qilcnno <7.  Not  being  a very  expert  judge 
of  coins,  and  supposing  that  he  had  asked  more  than 
the  value,  I offered  him  £2  : 10s.  for  this  one,  which 
was  considerably  the  larger ; but  he  would  not  take 
any  abatement.  He  evidently  was  not  anxious  to 
sell  them,  but  merely  took  his  chance  of  getting  a 
good  price,  and  investing  it  again  at  better  interest. 
Seeing  that  the  coin  seemed  but  little  heavier  than 
our  sovereign,  and  is  not  uncommon  in  collections, 
I fancy  the  price  he  asked  was  excessive.  The 
Athenian  shops,  which  are  notorious  for  their  prices 
to  strangers,  had  similar  coins,  for  which  about  £4 
was  asked.  On  this,  and  a thousand  other  points, 
the  traveller  should  be  instructed  by  some  competent 
person  before  he  sets  out.  Genuine  antiquities  seem 
to  me  so  common  in  Greece,  that  imitations  are 
hardly  worth  manufacturing.  Even  with  a much 
greater  market,  the  country  can  supply  for  genera- 
tions an  endless  store  of  real  remains  of  ancient 
Greece.  But,  nevertheless,  the  prices  of  these 
things  are  already  very  high.  The  ordinary  tourist 


392 


KAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


does  not  infest  these  shores,  so  that  the  only  seekers 
after  them  are  enthusiasts,  who  will  not  hesitate  to 
give  even  fancy  prices  for  what  they  like. 

The  form  of  the  country,  as  you  ascend  from 
Lechaeum  to  Corinth,  is  very  marked  and  peculiar. 
At  some  distance  from  the  flat  shore  the  road  leads 
up  through  a steep  pass  of  little  height,  which  is 
cut  through  a long  ridge  of  rock,  almost  like  a wall, 
and  over  which  lies  a higher  plateau  of  land.  The 
same  feature  is  again  repeated  a mile  inland,  as  the 
traveller  approaches  the  site  of  ancient  Corinth. 
These  plateaus,  though  not  lofty,  are  well  marked, 
and  perfectly  distinct,  the  passes  from  one  up  to  the 
next  being  quite  sufficient  to  form  a strong  place  of 
defence  against  an  attacking  force.  How  far  these 
rocky  parapets  reach  I did  not  examine.  Behind  the 
highest  plateau  rises  the  great  cliff  on  which  the 
citadel  was  built.  But  even  from  the  site  of  the 
old  city  it  is  easy  to  obtain  a commanding  view  of 
the  isthmus,  of  the  two  seas,  and  of  the  Achaean 
coast  up  to  Sikyon. 

The  traveller  who  expects  to  find  any  sufficient 
traces  of  the  city  of  Periander  and  of  Timoleon, 
and,  I may  say,  of  St.  Paul,  will  be  grievously  dis- 
appointed. In  the  middle  of  the  wretched  strag- 
gling modern  village  there  stand  up  seven  enor- 
mous rough  stone  pillars  of  the  Doric  Order,  evi- 
dently of  the  oldest  and  heaviest  type ; and  these 
are  the  only  visible  relic  of  the  ancient  city,  looking 


Temple  of  Corinth 


CORINTH. 


393 


altogether  out  of  place,  and  almost  as  if  they  had 
come  there  by  mistake.  These  pillars,  though  in- 
sufficient to  admit  of  our  reconstructing  the  temple, 
are  in  themselves  profoundly  interesting.  Their 
shaft  up  to  the  capital  is  of  one  block,  about  twenty- 
one  feet  high  and  six  feet  in  diameter.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  over  these  gigantic  monoliths  the 
architrave,  in  which  other  Greek  temples  show  the 
largest  blocks,  is  not  in  one  piece,  but  two,  and 
made  of  beams  laid  together  longitudinally.1  The 
length  of  the  shafts  (up  to  the  neck  of  the  capital) 
measures  about  four  times  their  diameter,  on  the 
photograph  which  I possess ; I do  not  suppose  that 
any  other  Doric  pillar  known  to  us  is  so  stout  and 
short.  The  material  is  said  almost  universally  to  be 
limestone,  but  if  my  eyes  served  me  aright,  it  was 
a very  porous  and  now  rough  sandstone,  not  the 
least  like  the  bluish  limestone  in  which  the  lions  of 
the  gate  of  Mycense  are  carved.  The  pillars  are 
said  to  have  been  covered  with  stucco,  and  were 
of  course  painted.  Perhaps  even  the  figures  of  the 
pediment  were  modelled  in  clay,  as  we  are  told  was 
the  case  in  the  oldest  Corinthian  temples,  when  first 

1 M.  Viollet-le-duc,  in  Iris  Entreliens  sur  P Architecture,  vol.  i.  p. 
45,  explains  the  reason  of  this.  Apart  from  the  greater  facility  of 
raising  smaller  blocks,  most  limestones  are  subject  to  flaws,  which 
are  disclosed  only  by  strain.  Hence  it  was  much  safer  to  support 
the  entablature  on  two  separate  beams,  one  of  which  might  sus- 
tain, at  least  temporarily,  the  building,  in  case  the  other  should 
crack. 


394 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  fashion  came  in  of  thus  ornamenting  an  otherwise 
flat  and  unsightly  surface.  The  great  temple  of 
Psestum — which  is,  probably,  the  next  oldest,  and 
certainly  the  finest  extant  specimen  of  the  early 
Doric  style — has  no  figures  in  the  pediment,  and 
seems  never  to  have  had  them,  unless,  indeed,  they 
were  painted  in  fresco  on  the  stucco,  with  which  it 
was  probably  covered.  Those  who  have  seen  the 
temple  at  Psestum  are,  perhaps,  the  only  visitors 
who  will  be  able  to  frame  to  themselves  an  image 
of  the  very  similar  structure  at  Corinth,  which 
Turks  and  earthquakes  have  reduced  to  seven  col- 
umns. There  must  have  been  in  it  the  same  sim- 
plicity, the  same  almost  Egyptian  massiveness,  and 
yet  the  same  unity  of  plan  and  purpose  which  ex- 
cludes all  idea  of  clumsiness  or  disproportion. 

The  longer  one  studies  the  Greek  orders  of  archi- 
tecture, the  more  the  conviction  grows  that  the 
Doric  is  of  all  the  noblest  and  the  most  natural. 
When  lightened  and  perfected  by  the  Athenians  of 
Pericles’s  time,  it  becomes  simply  unapproachable ; 
but  even  in  older  and  ruder  forms  it  seems  to  me 
vastly  superior  to  cither  of  the  more  florid  orders. 
All  the  massive  temples  of  Roman  times  were  built 
in  the  very  ornate  Corinthian,  which  may  almost  be 
called  the  Gneco-Roman,  style ; but,  notwithstand- 
ing their  majesty  and  beauty,  they  are  not  to  be 
compared  with  the  severer  and  more  religious  tone 
of  the  Doric  remains.  I may  add  that  the  titles  by 


Scene  near  Corinth,  the  Acro-Corinthus  in  the  Distance 


CORINTH. 


395 


which  the  orders  are  distinguished  seem  ill-chosen 
and  without  meaning,  except,  perhaps,  that  the  Ionic 
was  most  commonly  used,  and  probably  invented,  in 
Asia  Minor.  The  earliest  specimens  of  the  Corin- 
thian Order  are  at  Epidaurus,  Olympia,  and  Phiga- 
lia ; 1 the  most  perfect  of  the  Doric  is  at  Athens, 
while  Ionic  temples  are  found  everywhere.  But  it 
is  idle  now  to  attempt  to  change  such  definite  and 
well-sanctioned  names. 

Straight  over  the  site  of  the  town  is  the  great 
rock  known  as  the  Acro-Corinthus.  A winding 
path  leads  up  on  the  south-west  side  to  the  Turkish 
drawbridge  and  gate,  which  are  now  deserted  and 
open ; nor  is  there  a single  guard  or  soldier  to  watch 
a spot  once  the  coveted  prize  of  contending  empires. 
In  the  days  of  the  Achsean  League  it  was  called  one 
of  the  fetters  of  Greece,  and  indeed  it  requires  no 
military  experience  to  see  the  extraordinary  impor- 
tance of  the  place.  Strabo  speaks  of  the  Pelopon- 
nesus as  the  Acropolis  of  Greece — Corinth  may 
fairly  be  called  the  Acropolis  of  the  Peloponnesus. 
It  runs  out  boldly  from  the  surging  mountain-chains 
of  the  peninsula,  like  an  outpost  or  sentry,  guarding 
all  approach  from  the  north.  In  days  when  news 
was  transmitted  by  fire  signals,  we  can  imagine  how 
all  the  southern  country  must  have  depended  on  the 
watch  upon  the  rock  of  Corinth.  It  is  separated  by 
a wide  plain  of  land,  ending  in  the  isthmus,  from 
1 Cf.  pp.  370  and  433. 


396 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  Geranean  Mountains,  which  come  from  the  north 
and  belong  to  a different  system. 

Next  to  the  view  from  the  heights  of  Parnassus, 
I suppose  the  view  from  this  citadel  is  held  the 
finest  in  Greece.1  I speak  here  of  the  large  and 
diverse  views  to  be  obtained  from  mountain  heights. 
To  me,  personally,  such  a view  as  that  from  the 
promontory  of  Sunium,  or,  above  all,  from  the  har- 
bor of  Nauplia,  exceeds  in  beauty  and  interest  any 
bird’s-eye  prospect.  Any  one  who  looks  at  the  map 
of  Greece  will  see  how  the  Acro-Corinthus  com- 
mands coasts,  islands,  and  bays.  The  day  was  too 
hazy  when  we  stood  there  to  let  us  measure  the  real 
limits  of  the  view,  and  I cannot  say  how  far  the  eye 
may  reach  in  a suitable  atmosphere.  But  a host  of 
islands,  the  southern  coasts  of  Attica  and  Boeotia, 
the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  Salamis  and  iEgina,  Heli- 
con and  Parnassus,  and  endless  iEtolian  peaks  were 
visible  in  one  direction ; while,  as  we  turned  round, 
all  the  waving  reaches  of  Arcadia  and  Argolis,  down 
to  the  approaches  toward  Mantinea  and  Karytena, 
lay  stretched  out  before  us.  The  plain  of  Argos, 
and  the  sea  at  that  side,  are  hidden  by  the  moun- 


1 Strabo,  who  had  apparently  travelled  but  little  through 
Greece,  speaks  with  admiration  of  this  view,  which  he  had  evi- 
dently seen.  The  fortress  of  Karytena  is  some  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  higher  in  situation  and  far  more  picturesque  from  below,  but 
is  too  much  surrounded  by  other  high  mountains  to  admit  of  a 
prospect  like  that  from  the  Acro-Corinthus. 


CORINTH. 


397 


tains.1  But  without  going  into  detail,  this  much 
may  be  said,  that  if  a man  wants  to  realize  the  feat- 
ures of  these  coasts,  which  he  has  long  studied  on 
maps,  half  an  hour’s  walk  about  the  top  of  this  rock 
will  give  him  a geographical  insight  which  months 
of  reading  could  not  attain. 

The  surface  is  very  large,  at  least  half  a mile  each 
way,  and  is  covered  inside  the  bounding  wall  with 
the  remains  of  a considerable  Turkish  town,  now  in 
ruins  and  totally  deserted,  but  evidently  of  no  small 
importance  in  the  days  of  the  War  of  Liberation. 
The  building  of  this  town  was  a great  misfortune  to 
antiquarians,  for  every  available  remnant  of  old 
Greek  work  was  used  as  material  for  the  modern 
houses.  At  all  parts  of  the  walls  may  be  seen  white 
marble  fragments  of  pillars  and  architraves,  and  I 
have  no  doubt  that  a careful  dilapidation  of  the  mod- 
ern abandoned  houses  would  amply  repay  the  outlay. 
There  are  several  pits  for  saving  rain-water,  and 
some  shallow  underground  passages  of  which  we 
could  not  make  out  the  purpose.  The  pits  or  tanks 
must  have  been  merely  intended  to  save  trouble,  for 
about  the  middle  of  the  plateau,  which  sinks  con- 
siderably toward  the  south,  we  were  brought  to  a 
passage  into  the  ground,  which  led  by  a rapid  de- 
scent to  the  famous  well  of  Pirene,  the  water  of 
which  was  so  perfectly  clear  that  we  walked  into  it 
on  going  down  the  steps,  as  there  was  actually  no 
1 See  also  Guide  Joanne , ii.  p.  197. 


398 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


water-line  visible.  It  was  twelve  or  fourteen  feet 
deep,  and  perhaps  twenty-five  feet  long,  so  far  as  we 
could  make  it  out  in  the  twilight  underground.  The 
structure  of  marble  over  the  fountain  is  the  only 
piece  of  old  Greek  work  we  could  find  on  the  rock. 
It  consists  of  three  supports,  like  pillars,  made  of 
several  blocks,  and  over  them  a sort  of  architrave. 
Then  there  is  a gap  in  the  building,  and  from  the 
large  number  of  fragments  of  marble  lying  at  the 
bottom  of  the  well  we  concluded  that  the  frieze  and 
cornice  had  fallen  out.  The  pediment,  or  rather  its 
upper  outline,  is  still  in  its  place,  clear  of  the  archi- 
trave, and  built  into  the  rock  so  as  to  remain  with- 
out its  supporting  cornice. 

There  are  numerous  inscriptions  as  you  descend, 
which  I did  not  copy,  because  I was  informed  they 
had  already  been  published,  though  I have  not  since 
been  able  to  find  them  j but  they  are,  of  course,  to 
be  found  in  some  of  the  Greek  archaeological  news- 
papers. They  appeared  to  me  at  the  time  to  be 
either  hopelessly  illegible,  or  suspiciously  clear. 
This  great  well,  springing  up  near  the  top  of  a 
barren  rock,  is  very  curious,  especially  as  we  could 
see  no  outlet.1  The  water  was  deep  under  the  sur- 
face, and  there  was  no  sign  of  welling  up  or  of  out- 
flow anywhere  j but  to  make  sure  of  this  would  have 

1 This  is  just  what  Strabo  says  (viii.  6,  $ 21) : eupvoiv  pen  ovk 
£\ovoav  fieoTT/v  <T  del  diavyovs  nal  nnr'ipnv  vdaroc,  and  Corinth  was 
one  of  the  few  Greek  places  he  visited. 


THE  ISTHMUS. 


399 


required  a long  and  careful  ride  round  the  whole 
ridge.  Our  guide-book  spoke  of  rushing  streams 
and  waterfalls  tumbling  down  the  rock,  which  we 
searched  for  in  vain,  and  which  may  have  been 
caused  by  a winter  rainfall  without  any  connection 
with  the  fountain.1 2 

The  Isthmus,  which  is  really  some  three  or  four 
miles  north  of  Corinth,  was  of  old  famous  for  the  Isth- 
mian games,  as  well  as  for  the  noted  diolkos , or  road 
for  dragging  ships  across.  The  games  were  founded 
about  586  b.  c.,  when  a strong  suspicion  had  arisen 
throughout  Greece  concerning  the  fairness  of  the 
Elean  awards  at  Olympia,  and  for  a long  time  Eleans 
were  excluded.  In  later  days  the  games  became 
very  famous,  the  Argives  or  Cleonseans  laying  claim 
to  celebrate  them.  It  was  at  these  games  that  Philip 
V.  heard  of  the  great  defeat  of  the  Romans  by  Han- 
nibal, and  resolved  to  enter  into  that  colossal  quarrel 
which  brought  the  Romans  into  Macedonia.  The 
site  of  the  stadium,  and  of  the  temple  of  Isthmian 
Poseidon,  and  of  the  fortified  sanctuary,  were  exca- 
vated and  mapped  out  by  M.  Monceaux  in  1883.  A 
plan  and  details  are  to  be  found  in  the  French  Guide 
Joanne.2,  Close  by  I saw  in  1889  the  interrupted 
work  of  the  canal  which  was  at  last  to  connect  the 

1 So  also  learned  men  speak  about  the  amphitheatre.  Herzberg 
(ii.  253)  says:  “Seine  Ruine  steht  noch  heute.”  Cf.  also  Fried- 
lander,  ii.  383,  but  I could  not  find  it. 

2 Part  ii.  p.  198,  sq.  (1891). 


400 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


eastern  and  western  gulfs,  and  which  when  well-nigh 
completed  found  its  funds  dissipated  by  the  terrible 
crash  of  the  Credit  Mobilier  in  Paris,  and  now  awaits 
another  enterprise.  The  idea  is  old  and  often  dis- 
cussed, like  that  of  the  Isthmus  of  Suez.  The 
Emperor  Nero  actually  began  the  work,  and  the 
engineers  of  to-day  resumed  the  cutting  at  the  very 
spot  where  his  workmen  left  off. 

But  if  this  very  expensive  work  might  have  been 
of  great  service  when  sailing-ships  feared  to  round 
the  notorious  Cape  of  Malea,  and  when  there  was 
great  trade  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  ports  of  Thes- 
saly and  Macedonia,  surely  all  these  advantages  are 
now  superseded.  Steamers  coming  from  the  Straits 
of  Messina  would  pay  nothing  to  take  the  route  of  the 
Isthmus  in  preference  to  rounding  the  Morea,  and 
the  main  line  of  traffic  is  no  longer  to  the  Northern 
Levant,  but  to  Alexandria.  Even  goods  despatched 
from  Trieste  or  Venice  may  now  be  landed  at  Patras, 
and  sent  on  by  rail  to  Athens ; so  that  the  canal  will 
now  only  serve  the  smallest  fraction  of  the  Levantine 
trade ; and  even  then,  if  the  charges  be  at  all  ade- 
quate to  the  labor,  will  be  avoided  by  circumnaviga- 
tion. Amid  the  promotion  of  many  useful  schemes 
of  traffic,  this  undertaking  seems  to  me  to  stand  out 
by  its  want  of  common  sense.  Indeed,  had  it  been 
really  important  at  any  date,  we  may  be  sure 
that  the  Hellenistic  Sovrans  or  Roman  capitalists 
would  have  carried  it  out.  But  in  classical  days 


THE  RIDE  TO  ARGOS. 


401 


their  smaller  ships  seem  to  have  been  dragged 
across  upon  movable  rollers  by  slaves  without  much 
difficulty. 

But  we  had  already  delayed  too  long  upon  this 
citadel,  where  we  would  have  willingly  spent  a day 
or  two  at  greater  leisure.  Our  guide  urged  us  to 
start  on  our  long  ride,  which  was  not  to  terminate 
till  we  reached  the  town  of  Argos,  some  thirty  miles 
over  the  mountains.1 

The  country  into  which  we  passed  was  very  dif- 
ferent from  any  we  had  yet  seen,  and  still  it  was 
intensely  Greek.  All  the  hills  and  valleys  showed 
a very  white,  chalky  soil,  which  actually  glittered 
like  snow  where  it  was  not  covered  with  verdure  or 
trees.  Road,  as  usual,  there  was  none ; but  all  these 
hills  and  ravines,  chequered  with  snowy  white,  were 
clothed  with  shining  arbutus  trees,  and  shrubs  re- 
sembling dwarf  holly.  The  purple  and  the  white 
cistus,  which  is  so  readily  mistaken  for  a wild  rose,2 
were  already  out  of  blow,  and  showed  but  a rare 
blossom.  Here  and  there  was  a plain  or  valley  with 
great  fields  of  thyme  about  the  arbutus,  and  there 
were  herds  of  goats  wandering  through  the  shrubs, 
and  innumerable  bees  gathering  honey  from  the 
thyme.  The  scene  was  precisely  such  as  Theoc- 
ritus describes  in  the  uplands  of  Sicily ; but  in  all 

1 The  reader  who  performs  this  journey  by  train  may  consider 
whether  what  here  follows  is  not  an  older  and  better  way. 

2 KoXlog  6t  kcu  pdfia  klcQoq  eKcivdei. — Theocr.  v.  131. 

26 


402 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


our  rides  through  that  delightful  island 1 we  had 
never  found  the  thyme  and  arbutus,  the  goats  and 
bees,  in  such  truly  Theocritean  perfection.  We 
listened  in  vain  for  the  shepherd’s  pipe,  and  sought 
in  vain  for  some  Thyrsis  beguiling  his  time  with  the 
oaten  reed.  It  was  almost  noontide — noon,  the  hour 
of  awe  and  mystery  to  the  olden  shepherd,  when 
Pan  slept  his  mid-day  sleep,2  and  the  wanton  satyr 
was  abroad,  prowling  for  adventure  through  the 
silent  woods ; so  that,  in  pagan  days,  we  might  have 
been  afraid  of  the  companionship  of  melody.  But 
now  the  silence  was  not  from  dread  of  Pan’s  dis- 
pleasure, but  that  the  sun’s  fiercer  heat  had  warned 
the  shepherds  to  depart  to  the  snowy  heights  of 
Cyllene,  where  they  dwell  all  the  summer  in  alpine 
huts,  and  feed  their  flocks  on  the  upland  pastures, 
which  are  covered  with  snow- till  late  in  the  spring. 

They  had  left  behind  them  a single  comrade,  with 
his  wife  and  little  children,  to  protect  the  weak  and 
the  lame  till  their  return.  We  found  this  family 
settled  in  their  winter  quarters,  which  consisted  of  a 

1 There  is  a tract  of  sea-coast  on  the  east  side  of  Italy,  about 
halfway  between  Ancona  and  Monte  Gargano,  which  has  this 
Theocritean  character  to  perfection.  Even  the  railway  passenger 
can  appreciate  the  curious  contrast  it  affords  to  the  splendid 
orchards  and  gardens  about  Bari,  which  are  still  farther  south. 

7 oil  Otfuq,  u no/pfyvt  to  peoTjuflpiv&v,  ov  depic  appiv 
ovpiofiev.  tov  Ildva  6e 6oUapt£‘  tj  yap  an'  aypag 
ravtKa  KeKfiTjLq  apnaverat , Ion  yap  niKp6cf 
kul  oi  ael  Apipeia  ^oAa  non  pivl  KaSprai. — Theocb.  i.  15. 


THE  RIDE  TO  ARGOS. 


403 


square  enclosure  of  thorns  ( Opiyxoz  d^epdou),  built 
up  with  stones,  round  a very  old  spreading  olive- 
tree.  At  the  foot  of  the  tree  were  pots  and  pans, 
and  other  household  goods,  with  some  skins  and 
rude  rugs  lying  on  the  ground.  There  was  no 
attempt  at  a roof  or  hut  of  any  kind,  though,  of 
course,  it  might  be  set  up  in  a moment,  as  we  had 
seen  in  the  defiles  of  Parnassus,  with  skins  hung 
over  three  sticks — two  uprights,  and  the  third  join- 
ing their  tops,  so  as  to  form  a ridge. 

To  make  the  scene  Homeric,1 * * * *  as  well  as  Theoc- 
ritean,  two  large  and  very  savage  dogs  rushed  out 
upon  us  at  our  approach,  but  the  shepherd  hurried 
out  after  them,  and  drove  them  off  by  pelting  them 
vigorously  with  stones.  u Surely,’7  he  said,  turning 
to  us  breathlessly  from  his  exertions,  u you  had  met, 
O strangers  ! with  some  mischief,  if  I had  not  been 
here.”  The  dogs  disappeared,  in  deep  anger,  into 
the  thicket,  and,  though  we  stayed  at  the  place  for 
some  time,  never  reappeared  to  threaten  or  to  pursue 
us  on  our  departure.  We  talked  as  best  we  could 
to  the  gentle  shepherdess,  one  of  whose  children  had 
a fearfully  scalded  hand,  for  which  we  suggested 
remedies  to  her  occult  and  wonderful,  though  at 

1 Tovq  pev  bye  kaecmv  airb  x^ovbg  boaov  aeipuv 

</>evyepev  ax}>  ottlcu  deidiocero,  rprjxv  6e  <puvy 

r/neikei  paka  izamv , epyrvoaoice  6’  vkayuov} 

Xaipiov  tv  <f>peoiv  fi<nv}  dOovvenev  av?uv  epvvro. 

Theocr.  xxv.  73,  and  cf.  Odyss.  xiv.  29  sq . 


404 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


home  so  trite  as  to  be  despised  by  the  wise.  She 
gave  us  in  return  great  bowls  of  heated  milk,  which 
was  being  made  into  cheese,  and  into  various  kinds 
of  curds,  which  are  the  very  best  produce  of  the 
country.  They  would  take  no  money  for  their 
hospitality,  but  did  not  object  to  our  giving  the 
children  coins  to  play  with — to  them,  I am  sure,  a 
great  curiosity. 

Most  of  our  journey  was  not,  however,  through 
pastures  and  plains,  but  up  and  down  steep  ravines, 
where  riding  was  so  difficult  and  dangerous  that  we 
were  often  content  to  dismount  and  lead  our  horses. 
Every  hour  or  two  brought  us  to  a fountain  spring- 
ing from  a rock,  and  over  it  generally  a great 
spreading  tig-tree,  while  the  water  was  framed  in 
on  both  sides  with  a perfect  turf  of  maiden-hair 
fern.  The  only  considerable  valley  which  we  saw 
was  that  of  Cleonse,  which  we  passed  some  miles  on 
our  left,  and  about  which  there  was  a great  deal  of 
golden  corn,  and  many  shady  plane-trees.  Indeed, 
the  corn  was  so  plentiful  that  we  saw  asses  grazing 
in  it  quite  contentedly,  without  any  interference  from 
thrifty  farmers.  We  had  seen  a very  similar  sight 
in  Sicily,  where  the  enormous  deep-brown  Sicilian 
oxen,  with  their  forward-pointing  horns,  were 
stretching  their  huge  forms  in  fields  of  half-ripe 
wheat,  which  covered  all  the  plain  without  fence 
or  division.  There,  too,  it  seemed  as  if  this  was 
the  cheapest  grazing,  and  as  if  it  were  unprofitable 


TIRYNS. 


405 


labor  to  drive  the  cattle  to  some  untilled  pasture. 
As  for  the  treading-out  of  corn,  I saw  it  done  at 
Argos  by  a string  of  seven  horses  abreast,  with  two 
young  foals  at  the  outside,  galloping  round  a small 
circular  threshing-floor  in  the  open  field,  upon  which 
the  ripe  sheaves  had  been  laid  in  radiating  order.  I 
have  no  doubt  that  a special  observer  of  farming 
operations  would  find  many  interesting  survivals 
both  in  Greece  and  the  Two  Sicilies. 

Toward  evening,  after  many  hours  of  travel,  we 
turned  aside  on  our  way  down  the  plain  of  Argos, 
to  see  the  famous  ruins  of  Mycenae.  But  we  will 
now  pass  them  by,  as  the  discoveries  of  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann,  and  a second  visit  to  the  ruins  after  his  ex- 
cavations, have  opened  up  so  many  questions,  that 
a separate  chapter  must  be  devoted  to  them. 

The  fortress  of  Tiryns,  which  I have  already 
mentioned,  and  which  we  visited  next  day,  may 
fitly  be  commented  on  before  approaching  the 
younger,  or  at  least  more  artistically  finished, 
Mycenae.  It  stands  several  miles  nearer  to  the 
sea,  in  the  centre  of  the  great  plain  of  Argos,  and 
upon  the  only  hillock  which  there  affords  any  natural 
scope  for  fortification.  Instead  of  the  square,  or  at 
least  hewn,  well-fitted  blocks  of  Mycenae,  we  have 
here  the  older  style  of  rude  masses  piled  together  as 
best  they  would  fit,  the  interstices  being  filled  up 
with  smaller  fragments,  and,  as  we  now  know,  faced 
with  mortar.  This  is  essentially  Cyclopean  build- 


406 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ing.1  There  is  a smaller  castle  of  rectangular  shape, 
on  the  southern  and  highest  part  of  the  oblong  hil- 
lock, the  whole  of  which  is  surrounded  by  a lower 
wall,  which  takes  in  both  this  and  the  northern 
longer  part  of  the  ridge.  It  looked,  in  fact,  like  a 
hill-fort,  with  a large  enclosure  for  cattle  around  it. 

Just  below  the  north-east  angle  of  the  inner  fort, 
and  where  the  lower  circuit  is  about  to  leave  it, 
there  is  an  entrance,  with  a massive  projection  of 
huge  stones,  looking  like  a square  tower,  on  its 
right  side,  so  as  to  defend  it  from  attack.  The 
most  remarkable  feature  in  the  walls  are  the  covered 
galleries,  constructed  within  them  at  the  south-east 
angle.  The  whole  thickness  of  the  wall  is  often 
over  twenty  feet,  and  in  the  centre  a rude  arched 
way  is  made — or  rather,  I believe,  two  parallel 
ways;  but  the  inner  gallery  has  fallen  in,  and  is 
almost  untraceable — and  this  merely  by  piling 
together  the  great  stones  so  as  to  leave  an  open- 
ing, which  narrows  at  the  top  in  the  form  of  a 
Gothic  arch.  Within  the  passage  there  arc  five 
niches  in  the  outer  side,  made  of  rude  arches,  in 
the  same  way  as  the  main  passage.  The  length  of 

1 Pausanias  speaks  of  Mycena?  and  Tiryns  as  of  like  structure, 
which  is  not  true.  lie  often  refers  with  wonder  to  these  walls,  and 
reflects  upon  the  care  with  which  Greek  historians  had  described 
foreign  curiosities  like  the  Pyramids,  while  equally  wonderful 
things  in  Greece  were  left  unnoticed.  Thus,  he  says  that  no  pair 
of  mules  could  stir  from  its  place  the  smallest  of  the  blocks  in  the 
walls  of  Tiryns.  Cf.  ii.  25,  8 ; and  ix.  36,  5. 


Gallery  at  Tiryns 


TIRYNS. 


407 


the  gallery  I measured,  and  found  it  twenty-five 
yards,  at  the  end  of  which  it  is  regularly  walled  up, 
so  that  it  evidently  did  not  run  all  the  way  round. 
The  niches  are  now  no  longer  open,  but  seem  to 
have  been  once  windows,  or  at  least  to  have  had 
some  look-out  points  into  the  hill  country. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  although  the  walls  are  made 
of  perfectly  rude  stones,  the  builders  have  managed 
to  use  so  many  smooth  surfaces  looking  outward, 
that  the  face  of  the  wall  seems  quite  clean  and  well- 
built.1  At  the  south-east  corner  of  the  higher  and 
inner  level  we  found  a large  block  of  red  granite, 
quite  different  from  the  rough  gray  stone  of  the 
building,  with  its  surface  square  and  smooth,  and 
all  the  four  sides  neatly  bevelled,  like  the  portal 
stones  at  the  treasury  of  Atreus.  I found  two  other 
similar  blocks  close  by,  which  were  likewise  cut 
smooth  on  the  surface,  and  afterward,  in  company 
with  Dr.  Schliemann,  a large  Doric  capital.  The 
intention  of  these  stones  we  could  not  guess,  but 
they  show  that  some  ornament,  and  some  more  fin- 
ished work,  must  have  once  existed  in  or  near  the 
inner  building.  Though  both  the  main  entrances 
have  massive  towers  of  stone  raised  on  their  right, 
there  is  a small  postern  at  the  opposite  or  west  side, 

1 The  same  effect  is  observable  in  Staigue  Fort,  in  the  county 
of  Kerry,  and  has  led  some  people  to  imagine  that  its  stones  were 
rudely  fashioned.  Cf.  the  splendid  photographs  of  this  Irish 
Tiryns  in  Lord  Dun  raven’s  Notes  on  Irish  Architecture. 


408 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


not  more  than  four  feet  wide,  which  has  no  defences 
whatever,  and  is  a mere  hole  in  the  wall. 

The  whole  ruin  was  covered  in  summer  with  this- 
tles, such  as  English  people  can  hardly  imagine. 
The  needles  at  the  points  of  the  leaves  are  fully  an 
inch  long,  extremely  tine  and  strong,  and  sharper 
than  any  two-edged  sword.  No  clothes  except  a 
leather  dress  can  resist  them.  They  pierce  every- 
where with  the  most  stinging  pain,  and  make  anti- 
quarian research  in  this  famous  spot  a veritable 
martyrdom,  which  can  only  be  supported  by  a very 
burning  love  for  knowledge,  or  the  sure  hope  of 
future  fame.  The  rough  masses  of  stone  are  so 
loose  that  one’s  footing  is  insecure,  and  when  the 
traveller  loses  his  balance,  and  falls  among  the  this- 
tles, he  will  wish  that  he  had  gone  to  Jericho  in- 
stead, or  even  fallen  among  thieves  on  the  way. 

Such  was  the  aspect  of  Tiryns  when  I visited  it 
in  the  years  1875  and  in  1877.  In  1884  I went 
there  again  with  Dr.  Schliemann,  who  was  uncov- 
ering the  palace  on  the  height.  The  results  of  his 
discoveries  are  so  important  that  I shall  review 
them  in  another  chapter. 

We  rode  down  from  Mycenae  to  Argos  late  in  the 
evening,  along  the  broad  and  limpid  stream  of  the 
river  Inachus,  which  made  us  wonder  at  the  old  epic 
epithet,  very  thirsty , given  to  this  celebrated  plain.1 

1 no?iv6txpiov.  A fragment  of  Hesiod  (quoted  by  Eustathius  in 
II.,  p.  350)  notes  this  epithet,  in  order  to  account  for  its  being  no 


ARGOS. 


409 


Though  the  night  was  getting  dark,  we  could  see 
and  smell  great  fields  of  wild  rose-red  oleander, 
blooming  along  the  river  banks,  very  like  the  rho- 
dodendrons of  our  demesnes.  And,  though  not  a 
bird  was  to  be  heard,  the  tettix,  so  dear  to  the  old 
Greeks,  and  so  often  the  theme  of  their  poets,  was 
making  the  land  echo  with  its  myriad  chirping. 
Aristophanes  speaks  of  it  as  crying  out  with  mad 
love  of  the  noonday  sun.1  We  found  it  no  less  eager 
and  busy  in  late  twilight,  and  far  into  the  night. 
I can  quite  understand  how  the  old  Greek,  who 
hated  silence,  and  hated  solitude  still  more,  loved 
this  little  creature,  which  kept  him  company  even 
in  the  time  of  sleep,  and  gave  him  all  the  feelings 
of  cheerfulness  and  homeliness  which  we  northerns, 

longer  true,  "Apyoc  avvdpov  eov  A avaog  ttoitjoev  evvdpov.  Strabo 
(viii.  p.  256)  explains  it  by  confining  the  epithet  to  the  town  of 
Argos,  which  Homer  certainly  did  not,  and  by  admitting  that 
the  country  was  well  watered.  Pausanias  (ii.  15,  5)  says  that  all 
the  rivers  ran  dry,  except  in  rainy  weather,  which  is  seldom  true 
now. 

1 aXK  avdrjpcjv  Xeijucjvuv^  <f>vXAuv  r’  ev  koTittoic  va'uv7 
tjv'ik!  av  6 OecnTEGiog  o^v  peloc  aXsrac 
Odin  eg  i peoT)[i(Spivolg  rjliopavr/Q  /3oa . ( A ves,  1092-8.) 

The  little-known  lines  in  the  Shield  of  Hercules  are  also  worth 
quoting  (893,  sqq.)  : — 

Vpoq  6e  xAoepfi  avavonTepog , rjX^Ta  tetti£;7 
d^e)  e^E^o/uEVog,  Oipog  avOpunoio/v  aecdeiv 
dpxerai , <p  te  irootg  nai  fipumg  drjAvg  hepor/, 

Kai  te  navrjpEptdg  te  teal  etiog  x&ei  uvdrjv 
16el  ev  alvoTaT(t))  ottote  xp°a  2 eipiog  a£ei. 


410 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


in  our  wretched  climate,  must  seek  from  the  cricket 
at  the  fireside. 

At  ten  o’clock  we  rode  into  the  curious  dark 
streets  of  Argos,  and,  after  some  difficulty,  were 
shown  to  the  residence  of  M.  Papalexopoulos,  who 
volunteered  to  be  our  host — a medical  man  of  edu- 
cation and  ability,  who,  in  spite  of  a very  recent 
family  bereavement,  opened  his  house  to  the  stranger, 
and  entertained  us  with  what  may  well  be  called  in 
that  country  real  splendor.  I may  notice  that  he 
alone,  of  all  the  country  residents  whom  we  met, 
gave  us  wine  not  drenched  with  resin — a very 
choice  and  remarkable  red  wine,  for  which  the  plain 
of  Argos  is  justly  celebrated.  In  this  comfortable 
house  we  slept,  I may  say,  in  solitary  grandeur,  and 
awoke  in  high  spirits,  without  loss  or  damage,  to 
visit  the  wonders  of  this  old  centre  of  legend  and 
of  history. 

It  is  very  easy  to  see  why  all  the  Greek  myths 
have  placed  the  earliest  empires,  the  earliest  arts, 
and  the  earliest  conquests,  in  the  plains  of  Argolis. 
They  speak,  too,  of  this  particular  plain  having  the 
benefit  of  foreign  settlers  and  of  foreign  skill.  If 
we  imagine,  as  we  must  do,  the  older  knowledge  of 
the  East  coming  up  by  way  of  Cyprus  and  Crete 
into  Greek  waters,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
first  exploring  mariners,  reaching  the  barren  island 
of  Cerigo,  and  the  rocky  shore  of  Laconia,  would 
feel  their  way  up  this  rugged  and  inhospitable  coast, 


PLAIN  OF  ARGOS. 


411 


till  they  suddenly  came  in  sight  of  the  deep  bay  of 
Argolis,  stretching  far  into  the  land,  with  a broad 
plain  and  alluvial  soil  beyond  its  deepest  recess. 
Here,  first,  they  would  find  a suitable  landing-place, 
and  a country  fit  for  tillage ; and  here,  accordingly, 
we  should  expect  to  find,  as  we  actually  do,  the 
oldest  relics  of  habitation,  beyond  the  huts  of 
wandering  shepherds  or  of  savages.  So  the  legend 
tells  us  that  Cyclopes  came  from  Lycia  to  King 
Prcetus  of  Argos,  or  rather  of  the  Argive  plain,  and 
built  him  the  giant  fort  of  Tiryns.1 

This  was  evidently  the  oldest  great  settlement. 
Then,  by  some  change  of  fortune,  it  seems  that 
Mycense  grew  in  importance,  not  impossibly  because 
of  the  unhealthy  site  of  Tiryns,  where  the  surround- 
ings are  now  low  and  marshy,  and  were,  probably, 
even  more  so  in  those  days.  But  the  epoch  of 
Mycena^s  greatness  also  passed  away  in  historical 
times ; and  the  third  city  in  this  plain  came  forward 
as  its  ruler — Argos,  built  under  the  huge  Larissa,  or 
hill-fort,  which  springs  out  from  the  surrounding 
mountains,  and  stands  like  an  outpost  over  the  city.2 

1 These  Cyclopes,  cunning  builders,  and  even  workers  in  metal, 
are  to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  rude  and  savage  Cyclopes 
represented  in  Homer’s  Odyssey  as  infesting  Thrinacria,  in  the 
western  seas. 

2 In  the  days  of  the  composition  of  the  Iliad  we  see  the  power 
and  greatness  of  Mycenae  distinctly  expressed  by  the  power  of 
Agamemnon,  who  appears  to  rule  over  all  the  district  and  many 
islands.  Yet  the  great  hero,  Diomedes,  is  made  the  sovereign  of 


412 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Even  now  it  is  still  an  important  town,  and  main- 
tains, in  the  midst  of  its  smiling  and  well-cultivated 
plain,  a certain  air  of  brightness  and  prosperity 
which  is  seldom  to  be  seen  elsewhere  through  the 
country. 

We  went  first  to  visit  the  old  theatre,  certainly 
the  most  beautifully  situated,1  and  one  of  the  largest 
I had  ever  seen.  It  is  far  finer  than  even  that  of 
Syracuse,  and  whoever  has  seen  this  latter  will  know 
what  such  a statement  implies.  If  the  Greek  theatre 
at  Syracuse  has  a view  of  the  great  harbor  and  the 
coast  around,  this  view  can  only  have  been  made 
interesting  by  crowded  shipping  and  flitting  sails,  for 
the  whole  incline  of  the  country  is  very  gradual, 
and  not  even  the  fort  of  Ortygia  presents  any  bold 
or  striking  outline. 

The  Argive  theatre  was  built  to  hold  an  enormous 
audience.  We  counted  sixty-six  tiers  of  seats,  in 

Argos  and  Tiryns  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  This  difficulty 
has  made  some  critics  suppose  that  all  the  acts  of  Diomedes  were 
foisted  in  by  some  of  the  Argive  reciters  of  the  Iliad.  Without 
adopting  this  theory,  which  seems  to  me  extravagant,  I would  sug- 
gest that,  in  the  poet’s  day,  Argos  was  rapidly  growing  into  first- 
rate  importance,  while  all  the  older  legends  attested  the  greatness 
of  Mycenae.  Thus  the  poet,  who  was  obliged  to  put  together  the 
materials  given  him  by  divers  older  and  shorter  poems,  was  under 
the  difficulty  of  harmonizing  the  fresher  legends  about  Argos  with 
the  older  about  Mycenae. 

1 I prefer  this  view  even  to  that  from  the  theatre  of  Taormina 
in  Sicily,  which  is  so  justly  celebrated,  and  which  many  people 
think  the  finest  in  Europe. 


ARGOS — THE  THEATRE. 


413 


four  divisions — thus  differing  from  the  description 
of  Colonel  Leake,  which  we  had  before  us  at  the 
time.  As  he  observes,  there  may  be  more  seats 
still  covered  with  rubbish  at  the  bottom — indeed 
this,  like  all  the  rest  of  Argos,  ought  to  yield  a rich 
harvest  to  the  antiquarian,  being  still  almost  virgin 
soil,  and  never  yet  ransacked  with  any  care.  From 
the  higher  seats  of  the  theatre  of  Argos,  which  rise 
much  steeper  than  those  of  Syracuse,  there  is  a most 
enchanting  prospect  to  the  right,  over  a splendid  rich 
plain,  covered,  when  we  first  saw  it,  with  the  brilliant 
emerald-green  of  young  vines  and  tobacco  plants, 
varied  with  the  darker  hue  of  plane-trees  and 
cypresses.  After  the  wilderness  through  which  we 
had  passed  this  prospect  was  intensely  delightful. 
Straight  before  us,  and  to  the  left,  was  the  deep  blue 
bay  of  Argolis,  with  the  white  fortifications  of  Nauplia 
crowning  its  picturesque  Acropolis.  All  around  us, 
in  every  other  direction,  was  a perfect  amphitheatre 
of  lofty  mountains.  This  bay  is,  for  its  size,  the 
most  beautiful  I ever  saw,  and  the  opinion  which  we 
then  formed  was  strengthened  by  a sunset  view  of  it 
from  the  other  side — from  Nauplia — which  was,  if 
possible,  even  finer,  and  combined  all  the  elements 
which  are  conceivable  in  a perfect  landscape.  Near 
the  theatre  there  is  a remnant  of  Cyclopean  building, 
apparently  the  angle  of  a wall,  made  of  huge  uncut 
blocks,  like  those  at  Tiryns.  There  are  said  to  be 
some  similar  substructures  on  the  Larissa,  which  is, 


414 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


however,  itself  a mediaeval  ruin,  and  therefore,  to 
us,  of  slight  interest. 

All  the  children  about  brought  us  coins,  of  every 
possible  date  and  description,  but  were  themselves 
more  interesting  than  their  coins.  For  here,  in 
southern  Greece,  in  a very  hot  climate,  in  a level 
plain,  every  second  child  is  fair,  with  blue  eyes,  and 
looks  like  a transplanted  northern,  and  not  like  the 
offspring  of  a southern  race.  After  the  deep  brown 
Italian  children,  which  strike  the  traveller  by  their 
southernness  all  the  way  from  Venice  to  Reggio, 
nothing  is  more  curious  than  these  fairer  children, 
under  a sunnier  and  hotter  sky  ; and  it  reminds  the 
student  at  once  how,  even  in  Homer,  yellow  hair 
and  a fair  complexion  is  noted  as  belonging  to  the 
King  of  Sparta.  This  type  seems  to  me  common 
wherever  there  has  not  arisen  a mixed  population, 
such  as  that  of  Athens  or  Syra,  and  where  the 
inhabitants  appear  to  live  as  they  have  done  for 
centuries.  Fallmerayer’s  cleverness  and  undoubted 
learning  persuaded  many  people,  and  led  many  more 
to  suspect,  that  the  old  Greek  race  was  completely 
gone,  and  that  the  present  people  were  a mixture  of 
Turks,  Albanians,  and  Slavs.  To  this  many  answers 
suggest  themselves, — to  me,  above  all  things,  the 
strange  and  accurate  resemblances  in  character  be- 
tween ancient  and  modern  Greeks, — resemblances 
which  permeate  all  their  life  and  habits. 

But  this  is  a kind  of  evidence  not  easily  stated  in 


THE  GREEK  TYPE  AT  ARGOS. 


415 


a brief  form,  and  consists  after  all  of  a large  number 
of  minute  details.  The  real  refutation  of  Fallmer- 
ayer’s  theory  consists  in  exposing  the  alleged  evi- 
dence upon  which  it  rests.  He  puts  forth  with  great 
confidence  citations  from  MS.  authorities  at  Athens, 
which  have  not  been  verified  5 nay,  he  is  even  proved 
to  have  been  the  dupe  of  some  clever  forgeries.  A 
careful  examination  of  the  scanty  allusions  to  the 
state  of  Greece  during  the  time  of  its  supposed 
Slavisation , and  the  evidences  obtained  from  the 
lives  of  the  Greek  saints  who  belong  to  this  epoch, 
have  proved  to  demonstration  that  the  country  was 
never  wholly  occupied  by  foreigners,  or  deserted  by 
its  old  population.  The  researches  of  Ross,  Ellis- 
sen,  and  lastly  of  Hopf,1  have  really  set  the  matter 
at  rest ; but,  unfortunately,  English  students  will  for 
some  time  to  come  be  misled  by  the  evident  leaning 
of  Finlay  toward  the  Slav  hypothesis.  As  has  been 
fairly  remarked  by  later  critics,  Finlay  did  not  test 
the  documents  cited  by  Fallmerayer;  and  until  this 
was  done,  the  case  seemed  conclusive  enough  for 
the  total  devastation  of  Greece  during  four  hundred 
years,  and  its  occupation  by  a new  population.  But 
all  this  is  now  relegated  to  the  sphere  of  fable. 
There  is,  of  course,  a large  admixture  of  Slavs 
and  Albanians  in  the  country  ; the  constant  inva- 

1 Cf.  his  exhaustive  article  on  the  Mediaeval  History  of  Greece, 
in  Ersch  and  Gruber’s  Encyclopaedia , vol.  lxxxv.,  and  more  espe- 
cially his  refutation  of  Fallmerayer’ s theory,  pp.  100-19. 


416 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


sions  and  partial  conquests  for  several  centuries 
could  not  but  introduce  it.  Still,  Greece  has  re- 
mained Greek  in  the  main,  and  the  foreigners  have 
not  been  able  to  hold  their  own  against  the  stronger 
nationality  of  the  true  Hellenes. 

Another  weighty  argument  seems  to  me  to  be 
from  language.1  There  is  really  very  little  differ- 
ence between  the  language  of  Plato  and  that  of  the 
present  Greeks.  There  is,  of  course,  development 
and  decay,  there  are  changes  of  idiom  and  corrup- 
tions of  form,  there  are  a good  many  Slav  names, 
but  the  language  is  essentially  the  same.  The 
present  Greek  will  read  the  old  classics  with  the 
same  trouble  with  which  our  peasants  could  read 
Chaucer.  It  is,  in  fact,  most  remarkable,  assum- 
ing that  they  are  the  same  people,  how  their  lan- 
guage has  not  changed  more.  Had  the  invaders 
during  the  Middle  Ages  really  become  the  main 
body  of  the  population,  how  is  it  that  they  aban- 
doned their  own  tongue,  and  adopted  that  of  the 
Greeks  ? Surely  there  must  be  at  least  a fusion  of 
different  tongues,  if  the  population  were  consider- 

1 A great  authority,  whose  opinion  I deeply  respect — Prof. 
Sayce — goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  language  is  by  itself  no  proof  of 
race,  but  only  of  social  contact.  I will  not  venture  to  deny  that 
there  are  instances  where  this  is  so,  and  where  invading  strangers 
have  adopted  the  language  of  the  vanquished,  though  quite  foreign 
to  them.  But  surely  this  is  the  exception,  and  not  the  rule,  and 
there  is  a primd  facie  probability  in  favor  of  a well-preserved  lan- 
guage indicating  a well-preserved  race. 


THE  MODERN  HELLENES. 


417 


ably  leavened.  There  are  still  Albanian  districts 
in  Greece.  They  are  to  be  found  even  in  Attica, 
and  close  to  Athens.  But  these  populations  are 
still  tolerably  distinct  from  the  Greeks ; their  lan- 
guage is  quite  different,  and  unintelligible  to  Greeks 
who  have  not  learned  it. 

Again,  the  Greek  language  is  not  one  which 
spread  itself  easily  among  foreigners,  nor  did  it 
give  rise  to  a number  of  daughter  languages,  like 
the  Latin.  In  many  Hellenic  colonies,  barbarians 
learned  to  speak  Greek  with  the  Greeks,  and  to 
adopt  their  language  at  the  time ; but  in  all  these 
cases,  when  the  Greek  influence  vanished  the 
Greek  language  decayed,  and  finally  made  way  for 
the  old  tongue  which  it  had  temporarily  displaced. 
Thus  the  evidence  of  history  seems  to  suggest  that 
no  foreigners  were  ever  really  able  to  make  that 
subtle  tongue  their  own ; and  even  now  we  can  feel 
the  force  of  what  Aristotle  says — that  however  well 
a stranger  might  speak,  you  could  recognize  him  at 
once  by  his  use  of  the  particles. 

These  considerations  seem  to  me  conclusive  that, 
whatever  admixtures  may  have  taken  place,  the 
main  body  of  the  people  are  what  their  language 
declares  them  to  be,  essentially  Greeks.  Any  care- 
ful observer  will  not  fail  to  see  through  the  wilder 
parts  of  the  Morea  types  and  forms  equal  to  those 
which  inspired  the  old  artists.  There  are  still  among 
the  shepherd  boys  splendid  lads  who  would  adorn  a 
27 


418 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Greek  gymnasium,  or  excite  the  praise  of  all  Greece 
at  the  Olympian  games.  There  are  still  maidens 
fit  to  carry  the  sacred  basket  of  Athene.  Above 
all,  there  are  still  many  old  men  fit  to  be  chosen  for 
their  stalwart  beauty  to  act  as  thallophori  in  the 
Panathenaic  procession. 

These  thoughts  often  struck  us  as  we  went  through 
the  narrow  and  crowded  streets  of  Argos,  in  search 
of  the  peculiar  produce  of  the  place — raw  silks,  rich- 
colored  carpets  and  rugs,  and  ornamental  shoes  in 
dull  red  “ morocco  ” leather. 

We  were  taken  to  see  the  little  museum  of  the 
town — then  a very  small  one,  with  a single  inscrip- 
tion, and  eight  or  ten  pieces  of  sculpture.  But  the 
inscription,  which  is  published,  is  exceedingly  clear 
and  legible,  and  the  fragments  of  sculpture  are  all 
both  peculiar  and  excellent.  There  is  a female  head 
of  great  beauty,  about  half  life-size,  and  from  the 
best,  or  certainly  a very  good,  period  of  Greek  art, 
which  has  the  curious  peculiarity  of  one  eye  being 
larger  than  the  other.  It  is  not  merely  the  eyeball, 
but  the  whole  setting  of  the  eye,  which  is  slightly 
enlarged,  nor  does  it  injure  the  general  effect.  The 
gentlemen  who  showed  this  head  to  me,  and  who 
were  all  very  enthusiastic  about  it,  had  indeed  not 
noticed  this  feature,  but  recognized  it  at  once  when 
pointed  out  to  them.  Beside  this  trunkless  head  is 
a headless  trunk  of  equal  beauty — a female  figure 
without  arms,  and  draped  with  exquisite  grace,  in  a 


THE  MODERN  HELLENES. 


419 


manner  closely  resembling  the  famous  Venus  of 
Melos.  The  figure  has  one  foot  slightly  raised,  and 
set  upon  a duck,  as  is  quite  plain  from  the  general 
form  of  the  bird,  though  the  webbed  feet  are  much 
worn  away,  and  the  head  gone.  M.  Emile  Burnouf 
told  me  that  this  attribute  of  a duck  would  deter- 
mine it  to  be  either  Athene  or  Artemis.  If  so, 
the  general  style  of  the  figure,  which  is  very  young 
and  slight,  speaks  in  favor  of  its  being  an  Artemis. 
I trust  photographs  of  this  excellent  statue  may  soon 
be  made,  and  that  it  may  become  known  to  art  stu- 
dents in  Europe. 

We  also  noticed  a relief  larger  than  life,  on  a 
square  block  of  white  marble,  of  the  head  of  Medusa. 
The  face  is  calm  and  expressionless,  exactly  the  re- 
verse of  Lionardo  da  Vinci’s  matchless  painting,  but 
archaic  in  character,  and  of  good  and  clear  work- 
manship. The  head-dress,  which  has  been  finished 
only  on  the  right  side,  is  very  peculiar,  and  consists 
of  large  scales  starting  from  the  forehead,  and  sep- 
arating into  two  plaits,  which  become  serpents’ 
bodies,  and  descend  in  curves  as  low  as  the  chin, 
then  turning  upward  and  outward  again,  till  they 
end  in  well-formed  serpents’  heads.  The  left  ser- 
pent is  carved  out  perfectly  in  relief,  but  not  cov- 
ered with  scales. 

I was  unable  to  obtain  any  trustworthy  account 
of  the  finding  of  these  marbles,  but  they  were  all 
fresh  discoveries,  especially  the  Medusa  head,  which 


420 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


had  been  only  lately  brought  to  the  museum,  when 
we  were  first  at  Argos.  Future  visitors  will  find  this 
valuable  collection  much  increased  j and  here  in  this 
important  town  it  is  advisable  that  there  should  be  a 
local  museum. 

If  we  look  at  Dorian  art,  as  contrasted  with 
Ionian,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  earliest  centre 
was  Corinth  in  the  Peloponnesus,  to  which  various 
discoveries  in  art  are  specially  ascribed.  In  archi- 
tecture, there  were  many  leading  ideas,  such  as  the 
setting  up  of  clay  figures  in  the  tympanum  of  their 
temples,  and  the  use  of  panels  or  soffits,  as  they 
were  called,  in  ceilings,  which  came  first  from  Cor- 
inth. But  when  we  descend  to  better-known  times, 
there  are  three  other  Dorian  states  which  quite 
eclipse  Corinth,  I suppose  because  the  trading  in- 
stinct, as  is  sometimes  the  case,  crushed  out  or 
weakened  her  enthusiasm  for  art.  These  states  are 
iEgina,  Sikyon,  and  Argos.  Sikyon  rose  to  great- 
ness under  the  gentle  and  enlightened  despotism  of 
Orthagoras  and  his  family,  of  whom  it  was  noticed 
that  they  retained  their  sovereignty  longer  than  any 
other  dynasty  of  despots  in  Greece.  ^Egina  seems 
to  have  disputed  the  lead  with  Corinth  as  a commer- 
cial mart,  from  the  days  of  Pheidon,  whose  coinage 
of  money  was  always  said  to  have  been  first  prac- 
tised at  iEgina.1  The  prominence  of  /Egina  in 

1 This  fact  strengthens  my  conviction  that  at  an  early  period 
Angina  worked  the  silver-mines  of  Laurium. 


ARGIVE  SCULPTURE. 


421 


Pindar’s  Epinikian  Odes  shows  not  only  how  eagerly 
men  practised  athletics,  and  loved  renown  there,  but 
how  well  able  they  were  to  pay  for  expensive  monu- 
ments of  their  fame.  Their  position  in  the  Persian 
war,  among  the  bravest  of  the  Greeks,  corroborates 
the  former  part  of  my  statement ; the  request  of  an 
Ionian  Greek  lady,  captured  in  the  train  of  Mar- 
donius,  to  be  transported  to  iEgina,  adds  evidence 
for  the  second,  as  it  shows  that,  to  a person  of  this 
description,  iEgina  was  the  field  for  a rich  har- 
vest, and  we  wonder  how  its  reputation  can  have 
been  greater  in  this  respect  than  that  of  Corinth.1 
But,  a short  time  after,  the  rise  of  the  Athenian 
naval  power  crushed  the  greatness  of  iEgina,  and  it 
sank  into  insignificance,  and  was  absorbed  into  the 
Attic  power. 

Thus  Sikyon  and  Argos  remained,  and  it  was  pre- 
cisely these  two  towns  which  produced  a special 
school  of  art,  of  which  Polycletus  was  the  most  dis- 
tinguished representative.  Dorian  sculpture  had 
originally  started  with  figures  of  athletes,  which 
were  dedicated  at  the  temples,  and  were  a sort  of 
collateral  monument  to  the  odes  of  poets — more 
durable,  no  doubt,  in  the  minds  of  the  offerers,  but, 
as  time  has  shown,  perishable  and  gone,  while  the 
winged  words  of  the  poet  have  not  lost  even  the  first 
bloom  of  their  freshness.  However,  in  contrast  to 
the  flowing  robes  and  delicately-chiselled  features  of 
1 Cf.  Pindar’s  frag,  for  the  Corinthian  eraipat. 


422 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  Ionic  school,  the  Dorians  reproduced  the  naked 
human  figure  with  great  accuracy ; while  in  the  face 
they  adhered  to  a stiff  simplicity,  regardless  of  indi- 
vidual features,  and  still  more  regardless  of  any  ex- 
pression save  that  of  a vacant  smile.  This  type, 
found  in  its  most  perfect  development  in  the  iEgine- 
tan  marbles,  was  what  lay  before  Polycletus,  when 
he  rose  to  greatness.  He  was  the  contemporary  and 
rival  of  Phidias,  and  is  said  to  have  defeated  him  in 
a competition  for  the  temple  of  Hera  at  Samos, 
where  two  or  three  of  the  greatest  sculptors  modelled 
a wounded  Amazon,  and  Polycletus  was  adjudged 
the  first  place.  There  is  some  probability  that  one 
of  the  Amazons  now  in  the  Vatican  is  a copy  of  this 
famous  work-,  and,  in  spite  of  a clumsily-restored 
head  and  arms,  we  can  see  in  this  figure  the  great 
simplicity  and  truth  of  the  artist  in  treating  a rather 
ungrateful  subject — that  of  a very  powerful  and 
muscular  woman. 

The  Argive  school,  owing  to  its  traditions,  affected 
single  figures  much  more  than  groups ; and  this,  no 
doubt,  was  the  main  contrast  between  Polycletus 
and  Phidias — that,  however  superior  the  Argive 
might  be  in  a single  figure,  the  genius  of  the  Athe- 
nian was  beyond  all  comparison  in  using  sculpture 
for  groups  and  processions  as  an  adjunct  to  architect- 
ure. But  there  was  also  in  the  sitting  statue  of 
Zeus,  at  Olympia,  a certain  majesty  which  seems 
not  to  have  been  equalled  by  any  other  known  sculp- 


NAUPLIA. 


423 


tor.  The  Attic  artist  who  appears,  however,  to  have 
been  much  nearer  to  Polycletus  in  style  was  Myron, 
whose  Discobolus  has  reached  us  in  some  splendid 
copies,  and  who  seems  to  have  had  all  the  Dorian 
taste  for  representing  single  athletic  figures  with 
more  life  and  more  daring  action  about  them  than 
was  attempted  by  Polycletus.1 

Herodotus  notices  somewhere  that,  at  a certain 
period,  the  Argives  were  the  most  renowned  in 
Greece  for  music.  It  is  most  unfortunate  that  our 
knowledge  of  this  branch  of  Greek  art  is  so  frag- 
mentary that  we  are  wholly  unable  to  tell  in  what 
the  Argive  proficiency  consisted.  We  are  never 
told  that  the  Doric  scale  was  there  invented ; but, 
very  possibly,  they  may  have  taken  the  lead  among 
their  brethren  in  this  direction  also,  for  it  is  well 
known  that  the  Spartans,  though  excellent  judges, 
depended  altogether  upon  foreigners  to  make  music 
for  them,  and  thought  it  not  gentlemanly  to  do  more 
than  criticise. 

The  drive  from  Argos  to  Nauplia  leads  by  Tiryns, 
then  by  a great  marsh,  which  is  most  luxuriously 
covered  with  green  and  with  various  flowers,  and 
then  along  a good  road  all  the  way  into  the  im- 
portant and  stirring  town  of  Nauplia.  This  place, 
which  was  one  of  the  oldest  settlements,  as  is  proved 

1 The  bronze  cow  of  Myron  seems  also  to  have  been  a wonder- 
fully admired  work,  to  judge  from  the  crowd  of  epigrams  written 
upon  it,  which  still  survive. 


424 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


by  Pelasgic  walls  and  tombs  high  up  on  the  over- 
hanging cliffs,  was  always  through  history  known  as 
the  port  of  Argos,  and  is  so  still,  though  it  rose 
under  the  Turks  to  the  dignity  of  capital  of  the 
whole  province  of  Greece.  The  citadel  has  at  all 
times  been  considered  almost  impregnable.  The 
situation  of  the  town  is  exceptionally  beautiful,  even 
for  a Greek  town  ; and  the  sunset  behind  the 
Arcadian  mountains,  seen  from  Nauplia,  with  the 
gulf  in  the  foreground,  is  a view  which  no  man  can 
ever  forget. 

A coasting  steamer,  which  goes  right  round  all  the 
Peloponnesus,  took  us  up  with  a great  company, 
which  was  hurrying  to  Athens  for  the  elections,  and 
carried  us  round  the  coast  of  Argolis,  stopping  at  the 
several  ports  on  the  way.  This  method  of  seeing 
either  Greece  or  Italy  is  highly  to  be  commended, 
and  it  is  a great  pity  that  so  many  people  adhere 
strictly  to  the  quickest  and  most  obvious  route,  so 
missing  many  of  the  really  characteristic  features  in 
the  country  which  they  desire  to  study.  Thus  the 
Italian  coasting  steamers,  which  go  up  from  Messina 
by  Naples  to  Genoa,  touch  at  many  not  insignificant 
places  (such  as  Gaeta),  which  no  ordinary  tourist 
ever  sees,  and  which  are  nevertheless  among  the 
most  beautiful  in  all  the  country.  The  same  may 
be  said  of  the  sail  from  Nauplia  to  Athens,  which 
leads  you  to  Spezza,  Hydra,  or  Idra,  as  they  now 


The  Palamedi,  Nauplia 


HYDRA. 


425 


call  it,  to  Poros  and  to  iEgina,  all  very  curious  and 
interesting  places  to  visit. 

The  island  of  Hydra  was,  in  old  days,  a mere 
barren  rock,  scarcely  inhabited,  and  would  probably 
never  have  changed  its  reputation  but  for  a pirate 
settlement  in  a very  curious  little  harbor,  with 
a very  narrow  entrance,  which  faces  the  main 
shore  of  Argolis.  As  you  sail  along  the  straight 
coast  line,  there  seems  no  break  or  indentation, 
when  suddenly,  as  if  by  magic,  the  rocky  shore 
opens  for  about  twenty  yards,  at  a spot  marked  by 
several  caves  in  the  face  of  the  cliff,  and  lets  you 
see  into  a circular  harbor  of  very  small  dimensions, 
with  an  amphitheatre  of  rich  and  well-built  houses 
rising  up  all  round  the  bay.  Though  the  water  is 
very  deep,  there  is  actually  no  room  for  a large  fleet, 
and  there  seems  not  a yard  of  level  ground,  except 
where  terraces  have  been  artificially  made.  High 
rocks  on  both  sides  of  the  narrow  entrance  hide  all 
prospect  of  the  town,  except  from  the  point  directly 
opposite  the  entrance. 

The  Hydriotes,  who  were  rich  merchants,  and,  I 
suppose,  successful  pirates  in  the  Turkish  days,  were 
never  enslaved,  but  kept  their  liberty  and  their 
wealth  by  paying  a tribute  to  the  Porte.  They 
developed  a trading  power  which  reminds  one 
strongly  of  the  old  Greek  cities $ and  so  faithful 
were  they  to  one  another  that  it  was  an  ordinary 
habit  for  citizens  to  entrust  all  their  savings  to  a 


426 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


captain  starting  for  a distant  port,  to  be  laid  out  by 
him  to  the  best  advantage.  It  is  said  that  they  were 
never  defrauded  of  their  profits.  The  Turks  may, 
perhaps,  have  thought  that  by  gentle  treatment  they 
would  secure  the  fidelity  of  the  Hydriotes,  whose 
wealth  and  power  depended  much  on  Turkish  pro- 
tection ; but  they  were  greatly  mistaken.  There 
was,  indeed,  some  hesitation  among  the  islanders, 
when  the  War  of  Liberation  broke  out,  what  part 
they  should  take  5 for  during  the  great  Napoleonic 
wars  the  Hydriotes,  sailing  under  the  neutral  flag  of 
Turkey,  had  made  enormous  profits  by  carrying  trade 
among  the  belligerents.  They  lived  in  great  luxury. 
With  the  peace  of  1815,  and  the  reopening  of  the 
French  and  other  ports  to  English  ships,  these 
profits  disappeared,  and  the  extravagant  hopes  of 
the  Hydriotes  ended  in  bankruptcy.  This  was 
probably  a main  cause  of  their  patriotism.  How- 
ever, by  far  the  most  brilliant  feats  in  the  war  were 
those  performed  by  the  Hydriote  sailors,  who  remind 
one  very  much  of  the  Zealanders  in  the  wars  of 
Holland  against  the  Spanish  power.  Whether  their 
bravery  has  been  exaggerated  is  hard  to  say : this, 
at  all  events,  is  clear,  that  they  earned  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  the  whole  nation,  nor  is  there  any  nobil- 
ity so  recognized  in  Greek  society  as  descent  from 
the  Hydriote  chiefs  who  fought  for  the  Liberation. 

With  the  rise  of  the  nation  the  wealth  and  im- 
portance of  Hydra  has  strangely  decayed.  Prob- 


M GINA. 


427 


ably  the  Peirseus,  with  its  vast  advantages,  has 
naturally  regained  its  former  predominance,  now 
that  every  part  of  the  coast  and  every  port  are 
equally  free.  Still,  the  general  style  and  way  of 
living  at  Hydra  reminds  one  of  old  times ; and  if 
the  island  itself  be  sterile,  the  rich  slopes  of  the 
opposite  coast,  covered  with  great  groves  of  lemon- 
trees,  are  owned  by  the  wealthy  descendants  of  the 
old  merchants. 

The  neighboring  island  of  Spezza,  where  the 
steamer  waits,  and  a crowd  of  picturesque  people 
come  out  in  quaint  boats  to  give  and  take  cargo, 
has  a history  very  parallel  to  that  of  Hydra.  It  is 
to  be  noted  that  the  population  of  both  islands  is 
rather  Albanian  than  Greek.  A few  hours  brings 
the  steamer  past  Poros  and  through  narrow  passages 
among  islands  to  iEgina,  as  they  now  call  it.  We 
have  here  an  island  whose  history  is  precisely  the 
reverse  of  that  of  Hydra.  The  great  days  of 
iEgina  (as  I mentioned  above)  were  in  very  old 
times,  from  the  age  of  Pheidon  of  Argos,  in  the 
seventh  century  B.  c.,  up  to  the  rise  of  Athens’s 
democracy  and  navy,  when  this  splendid  centre  of 
literature,  art,  and  commerce  was  absorbed  in  the 
greater  Athenian  empire. 

There  is  at  present  a considerable  town  on  the 
coast,  and  some  cultivation  on  the  hills ; but  the 
whole  aspect  of  the  island  is  very  rocky  and  barren, 
and  as  it  can  hardly  ever  have  been  otherwise,  we 


Sculptured  Lion,  Nauplia 


NAUPLIA. 


429 


recommended  to  the  traveller  who  does  not  arrive 
in  due  time  to  catch  the  weekly  steamer.  Horses 
can  be  hired  at  Nauplia,  which  can  perform,  in  about 
seven  hours,  the  journey  to  the  little  village  of  Epi- 
dauros  (now  pronounced  Epidavros).  Here  a boat 
can  be  obtained,  which,  with  a fair  wind,  can  reach 
iEgina  in  three,  and  the  Peirseus  in  about  six  hours. 
But,  like  all  boating  expeditions,  this  trip  is  uncer- 
tain, and  may  be  thwarted  by  either  calm  or  storm. 

We  left  Nauplia  on  a very  fine  morning,  while  the 
shepherds  from  the  country  were  going  through  the 
streets,  shouting  jala,  and  serving  out  their  milk 
from  skins,  of  which  they  held  the  neck  in  one  hand, 
and  loosened  their  hold  slightly  to  pour  it  into  the 
vessel  brought  to  them  by  the  customer.  These 
picturesque  people — men,  women,  and  children — 
seem  to  drive  an  active  trade,  and  yet  are  not,  I 
believe,  to  be  found  in  the  streets  of  any  other 
Greek  town. 

The  way  through  the  Argolic  country  is  rough 
and  stony,  not  unlike  in  character  to  the  ride  from 
Corinth  to  Mycenae,  but  more  barren,  and  for  the 
most  part  less  picturesque.  On  some  of  the  hilltops 
are  old  ruins,  with  fine  remains  of  masonry,  appar- 
ently old  Greek  work.  The  last  two  or  three  hours 
of  the  journey  are,  however,  particularly  beautiful, 
as  the  path  goes  along  the  course  of  a rich  glen,  in 
which  a tumbling  river  hurries  tOAvard  the  sea. 
This  glen  is  full  of  verdure  and  of  trees.  We  saw 


430 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


it  in  the  richest  moment  of  a southern  spring,  when 
all  the  trees  were  bursting  into  leaf,  or  decked  with 
varied  bloom.  It  was  the  home,  too,  of  thrushes, 
and  many  other  singing  birds,  which  filled  the  air 
with  music — as  it  were  a rich  variation  upon  the 
monotonous  sound  of  the  murmuring  river.  There 
is  no  sweeter  concert  than  this  in  nature,  no  union 
of  sight  and  sound  which  fills  the  heart  of  the 
stranger  in  such  a solitude  with  deeper  gladness. 
I know  no  fitter  exodus  from  the  beautiful  Morea 
— a farewell  journey  which  will  dwell  upon  the 
memory,  and  banish  from  the  mind  all  thoughts  of 
discomfort  and  fatigue. 

In  the  picturesque  little  land-locked  bay  of  Epi- 
davros  there  was  a good-sized  fishing-boat  riding  at 
anchor,  which  we  immediately  chartered  to  convey 
us  to  Athens.  The  skipper  took  some  time  to 
gather  a crew,  and  to  obtain  the  necessary  papers 
from  the  local  authorities,  but  after  some  pressure 
on  our  part  we  got  under  weigh  with  a fair  wind, 
and  ran  out  of  the  harbor  into  the  broad  rock- 
studded  sheet  of  water  which  separates  Argolis 
from  iEgina,  and  from  the  more  distant  coast  of 
Attica.  There  is  no  more  delightful  or  truly  Greek 
mode  of  travelling  than  to  run  through  islands  and 
under  rocky  coasts  in  these  boats,  which  are  roomy 
and  comfortable,  and,  being  decked,  afford  fair  shel- 
ter from  shower  or  spray.  But  presently  the  wind 
began  to  increase  from  the  north-west,  and  our 


SHIPWRECKED. 


431 


skipper  to  hesitate  whether  it  were  safe  to  con- 
tinue the  journey.  He  proposed  to  run  into  the 
harbor  of  iEgina  for  the  night.  We  acquiesced 
without  demur,  and  went  at  a great  pace  to  our 
new  destination.  But  no  sooner  had  we  come  into 
the  harbor,  and  cast  anchor,  so  that  the  boat  lay 
steady  with  her  head  to  the  wind,  than  another 
somewhat  larger  boat  which  came  sailing  in  after 
us  ran  right  into  her  amidships.  The  shock  started 
up  all  my  companions,  who  were  lying  asleep  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat,  and  the  situation  looked  rather 
desperate,  for  we  were  in  the  middle  of  a large 
harbor,  a long  way  from  land.  It  was  night,  and 
blowing  hard,  and  all  our  crew  betook  themselves 
to  weeping  and  praying,  while  the  other  boat  did 
her  best  to  sheer  off  and  leave  us  to  our  fate. 
However,  some  of  us  climbed  into  her  by  the  bow- 
sprit, which  lay  across  our  deck,  while  others  got 
up  the  baggage,  and  proceeded  to  examine  at  what 
pace  the  water  was  coming  in.  A boat  from  the 
shore  came  out  in  time  to  take  us  off  safely,  but 
when  we  had  landed  our  skipper  gravely  proposed 
that  we  should  pay  for  the  boat,  as  she  was  injured 
in  our  service  ! Of  course,  we  laughed  him  to  scorn, 
and  having  found  at  iEgina  a steam-launch  belong- 
ing to  Captain  Miaoulis,  then  Minister  of  Marine, 
we  went  in  search  of  him,  and  besought  him  to  take 
us  next  day  to  the  Peirseus.  The  excellent  man 
not  only  granted  our  request,  but  entertained  us  on 


432 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  way  with  the  most  interesting  anecdotes  of  his 
stay  in  England  as  a boy,  when  he  came  with  his 
father  to  seek  assistance  from  our  country  during 
the  War  of  Liberation.  Thus  we  came  into  the 
Peirseus,  not  as  shipwrecked  outcasts,  but  under  the 
protection  of  one  of  the  most  gallant  and  distin- 
guished officers  of  the  Greek  navy. 

A great  point  of  interest  among  newly-discovered 
sites  is  the  great  temple  and  theatre  of  Epidaurus, 
which  I did  not  visit,  on  account  of  an  epidemic  of 
small-pox — elnfXoy'ia  they  call  it,  euphemistically. 
The  very  journey  to  this  place  is  worth  making, 
on  account  of  its  intensely  characteristic  features. 
You  start  from  Athens  in  a coasting  steamer  full 
of  natives,  who  carry  with  them  their  food  and  beds, 
and  camp  on  deck  where  it  pleases  them,  regardless 
of  class.  You  see  all  the  homeliness  of  ordinary 
life  obtruded  upon  you  without  seeking  it,  instead 
of  intruding  upon  others  to  find  it ; and  you  can 
study  not  only  the  country,  but  the  people,  at  great 
leisure.  But  the  ever-varying  beauty  of  the  scene 
leaves  little  time  for  other  studies.  The  boat  passes 
along  Angina,  and  rounds  the  promontory  of  Kalau- 
ria — the  death-scene  of  Demosthenes — into  the  land- 
locked bay  of  Poros,  where  lay  the  old  Troezen  and 
Ilermione  along  the  fruitful  shore,  surrounded  by  an 
amphitheatre  of  lofty  mountains.  The  sea  is  like  a 
fair  inland  lake,  studded  with  white  sails,  and  framed 
with  the  rich  green  of  vines  and  figs  and  growing 


EPIDAVROS. 


433 


corn.  Even  the  rows  of  tall  solemn  cypresses  can 
suggest  no  gloom  in  such  a landscape.  From  here 
it  is  but  a short  ride  to  the  famous  temple  of  Aescu- 
lapius, though  most  people  go  from  Nauplia,  as  I 
once  did  in  former  years,  before  the  discoveries  were 
made  which  now  attract  the  student. 

The  excavations  of  the  Greek  archaeological 
society  have  laid  bare  at  least  three  principal  build- 
ings in  connection  with  the  famous  spot  5 the  old 
temple  of  the  god,  the  theatre,  and  the  famous  tholos , 
a circular  building,  in  which  those  who  had  been 
healed  of  diseases  set  up  votive  tablets.  The  extra- 
ordinary size  and  splendor  of  the  theatre — Pausanias 
says  it  was  far  the  finest  in  Greece — rather  con- 
trasts with  the  dimensions  of  the  temple,  and  sug- 
gests that  most  of  the  patients  who  came  were  able 
to  enjoy  themselves,  or  else  that  many  people  came 
for  pleasure,  and  not  on  serious  business.  The  re- 
mains discovered  are  particularly  valuable  for  the 
good  preservation  of  the  stage,  but  of  this  I can 
only  speak  at  second  hand.  So  also  the  circular 
building,  which  was  erected  under  the  supervision 
of  the  famous  Polycletus,  the  great  Argive  sculptor, 
a rival  of  Phidias,  has  many  peculiar  features,  and 
shows  in  one  more  instance  that  what  earlier  art 
critics  assumed  as  modern  was  based  on  older  classi- 
cal models.  Circular  buildings  supported  on  pillars 
were  thought  rather  Grseco-Roman  than  Greek,  but 
here  we  see  that,  like  the  builders  of  the  Odeon  of 
2S 


434 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Pericles,  of  the  later  Philippeion  at  Olympia,  so  the 
Epidaurians  had  this  form  before  them  from  early 
days.  Inside  the  outer  row  of  Doric  pillars  was  a 
second  circle  of  pillars,  apparently  Ionic  as  to  pro- 
portions and  fluting,  but  the  capitals  were  Corinthian, 
so  that  this  feature  also  in  architecture  has  a vener- 
able antiquity,  and  was  not  Grseco-Roman,  as  was 
once  supposed.  For  a long  time  the  so-called 
Lantern  of  Demosthenes,  built  for  Lysicrates  at 
Athens  in  335  B.  c.,  when  Alexander  was  leading  his 
army  into  Asia,  was  considered  the  oldest,  and  per- 
haps the  only  pure  Greek  example  of  the  Corinthian 
capital.  People  began  to  hesitate  when  a solitary 
specimen  was  found  in  the  famous  temple  of  Bassse, 
where  it  could  hardly  have  been  imported  in  later 
days.  Now  the  evidence  is  completed,  and  in  this 
respect  the  historians  of  art  are  correcting  the  rash 
generalization  of  their  predecessors. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


KYNURIA — SPARTA — MESSENE . 

Whatever  other  excursions  a traveller  may  make 
in  the  Morea,  he  ought  not  to  omit  a trip  to  Sparta, 
which  has  so  often  been  the  centre  of  power,  and  is 
still  one  of  the  chief  centres  of  attraction  in  Greece. 
And  yet  many  reasons  conspire  to  make  this  famous 
place  less  visited  than  the  rest  of  the  country.  It  is 
distinctly  out  of  the  way  from  the  present  starting- 
points  of  travel.  To  reach  it  from  Athens,  or  even 
from  Patras  or  Corinth,  requires  several  days,  and  it 
is  not  remarkable  for  any  of  those  architectural  re- 
mains which  are  more  attractive  to  the  modern 
inquirer  than  anything  else  in  a historic  country. 

Of  the  various  routes  we  choose  (in  1884)  that 
from  Nauplia  by  Astros,  as  we  had  been  the  guests 
for  some  days  of  the  hospitable  Dr.  Schliemann,  who 
was  prosecuting  his  now  famous  researches  at  Tiryns. 
So  we  rose  one  morning  with  the  indefatigable  doc- 
tor before  dawn,1  and  took  a boat  to  bring  us  down 
the  coast  to  Astros.  The  morning  was  perfectly  fair 
and  calm,  and  the  great  mountain  chains  of  the  coast 
were  mirrored  in  the  opal  sea,  as  we  passed  the  pic- 

1 Cf.  the  account  of  his  habits  in  his  work,  Tiryns,  cap.  I. 

435 


436 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


turesque  rocky  fort  which  stands  close  to  Xauplia 
in  the  bay,  the  residence  of  the  public  executioner. 
The  beauty  of  the  Gulf  of  Argos  never  seemed 
more  perfect  than  in  the  freshness  of  the  morning, 
with  the  rising  sun  illuminating  the  lofty  coasts. 
Our  progress  was  at  first  by  the  slow  labor  of  the  oar, 
but  as  the  morning  advanced  there  came  down  a 
fresh  west  wind  from  the  mountains,  which  at  inter- 
vals filled  our  lateen  sail  almost  too  well,  and  sent 
us  flying  along  upon  our  way.  In  three  hours  we 
rounded  a headland,  and  found  ourselves  in  the  pretty 
little  bay  of  Astros. 

Of  course,  the  whole  population  came  down  to  see 
us.  They  were  apparently  as  idle,  and  as  ready  to 
be  amused,  as  the  inhabitants  of  an  Irish  village. 
But  they  are  sadly  wanting  in  fun.  You  seldom 
hear  them  make  a joke  or  laugh,  and  their  curiosity 
is  itself  curious  from  this  aspect.  After  a good  deal 
of  bargaining  we  agreed  for  a set  of  mules  and 
ponies  to  bring  us  all  the  way  round  the  Morea,  to 
Corinth  if  necessary,  though  ultimately  we  were  glad 
to  leave  them  at  Kyparissia,  at  the  opposite  side  of 
Peloponnesus,  and  pursue  our  way  by  sea.  The 
bargain  was  eight  drachmas  per  day  for  each  ani- 
mal ; a native,  or  very  experienced  traveller,  could 
have  got  them  for  five  to  six  drachmas. 

Our  way  led  us  up  a river  course,  as  usual 
through  fine  olive-trees  and  fields  of  corn,  studded 
with  scarlet  anemones,  till  after  a mile  or  two  we 


HAGIOS  PETROS. 


437 


began  to  ascend  from  the  level  of  the  coast  to  the 
altitudes  of  the  central  plateau,  or  rather  mountain 
system,  of  the  Morea.  Here  the  flora  of  the  coast 
gave  way  to  fields  of  sperge,  hyacinths,  irises,  and 
star  of  Bethlehem.  Every  inch  of  ascent  gave  us 
a more  splendid  and  extended  view  back  over  coasts 
and  islands.  The  giant  tops  of  the  inner  country 
showed  themselves  still  covered  with  snow.  We 
were  in  that  district  so  little  known  in  ancient  his- 
tory, which  was  so  long  a bone  of  contention  between 
Argos  and  Sparta,  whose  boundaries  seem  never  to 
have  been  fixed  by  any  national  landmark.  When 
we  had  reached  the  top  of  the  rim  of  inland  Alps, 
we  ascended  and  descended  various  steeps,  and 
rounded  many  glens,  reaching  in  the  end  the  vil- 
lage of  Hagios  Petros,  which  we  had  seen  before  us 
for  a long  time,  while  we  descended  one  precipice 
and  mounted  another  to  attain  our  goal.  It  was 
amusing  to  see  our  agogicitce  or  muleteers  pulling  out 
fragments  of  mirror,  and  arranging  their  toilette, 
such  as  it  was,  before  encountering  the  criticism  of 
the  Hagiopetrans.  One  of  these  men  was  indeed  a 
handsome  soldierly  youth,  who  walked  all  day  with 
us  for  a week  over  the  roughest  country,  in  miserable 
shoes,  and  yet  without  apparent  fatigue. 

Another,  a great  stout  man  with  a beard,  excused 
himself  for  not  being  married  by  saying  he  was  too 
little  (eivat  gexpo'),  and  so  we  learned  that  as  they 
are  all  expected  to  marry,  and  do  marry,  twenty-five 


438 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


is  considered  the  earliest  proper  age.  One  would 
almost  think  they  had  preserved  some  echo  of  Aris- 
totle’s views,  which  make  thirty  years  the  best  age 
for  marriage — thirty  years ! when  most  of  us  are 
already  so  old  as  to  have  lost  interest  in  these  great 
pleasures. 

At  Hagios  Petros  we  were  hospitably  received  by 
the  demarch,  a venerable  old  man  with  a white 
beard,  who  was  a physician,  unfortunately  also  a 
politician,  and  who  insisted  on  making  a thousand 
inquiries  about  Mr.  Gladstone  and  Prince  Bismarck, 
while  we  were  starving  and  longing  for  dinner. 
Some  fish,  which  the  muleteers  had  providently 
bought  at  Astros  and  brought  with  them,  formed  the 
best  part  of  the  entertainment,  if  we  except  the 
magnificent  creature,  adorned  in  all  his  petticoats 
and  colors  and  knives,  who  came  in  to  see  us  before 
dinner,  and  kissed  our  hands  with  wonderful  dig- 
nity, but  who  turned  out  to  be  the  waiter  at  the 
table.  We  asked  the  demarch  how  he  had  procured 
himself  so  stately  a servant,  and  he  said  he  was  the 
clerk  in  his  office.  It  occurred  to  us,  when  we 
watched  the  grace  and  dignity  of  every  movement 
in  this  royal-looking  person,  how  great  an  effect 
splendid  costume  seems  to  have  on  manners.  It 
was  but  a few  days  since  that  I had  gone  to  a very 
fashionable  evening  party  at  a handsome  palace  in 
Athens,  and  had  been  amused  at  the  extraordinary 
awkwardness  with  which  various  very  learned  men 


HAGIOS  PETROS. 


439 


— professors,  archaeologists,  men  of  independent 
means — had  entered  the  room.  The  circle  was, 
I may  add,  chiefly  German.  Here  was  a man, 
ignorant,  acting  as  a servant  and  yet  a king  in 
demeanor.  But  how  could  you  expect  a German 
professor  in  his  miserable  Frankish  dress  to  assume 
the  dignity  of  a Greek  in  palicar  costume,  in  forty 
yards  of  petticoat,  his  waist  squeezed  with  female 
relentlessness,  with  his  ruby  jacket  and  gaiters,  his 
daggers  and  pistols  at  his  belt.  After  all,  manners 
are  hardly  attainable,  as  a rule,  without  costume. 

We  were  accommodated  as  well  as  the  worthy 
demarch  could  manage  for  the  night.  As  a special 
favor  I was  put  to  sleep  into  his  dispensary,  a little 
chamber  full  of  galley-pots,  pestles,  and  labelled 
bottles  of  antiquated  appearance,  and  dreamt  in 
turns  of  the  study  of  Faust  and  of  the  apothecary’s 
shop  in  Mantua,  which  we  see  upon  the  stage. 

Early  in  the  morning  we  climbed  up  a steep 
ascent  to  attain  the  high  plateau,  very  bleak  and 
bare,  which  is  believed  by  the  people  to  have  been 
the  scene  of  the  conflict  of  Othryades  and  his  men 
with  the  Argive  300.  A particular  spot  is  still 
called  <JTobz  (povzufievour^  the  place  of  the  slain. 
The  high  plain,  about  3500  feet  above  the  sea, 
was  all  peopled  with  country-folk  coming  to  a 
market  at  Hagios  Petros,  and  we  had  ample  oppor- 
tunity of  admiring  both  the  fine  manly  appearance 
and  the  excellent  manners  of  this  hardy  and  free 


440 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


peasantry.  The  complex  of  mountains  in  which 
they  live  is  the  chain  of  Para  on,  which  ultimately 
extends  from  Thyreatis  through  Kynuria  down  to 
Cape  Malea,  but  not  without  many  breaks  and 
crossings.  The  heights  of  Parnon  (now  called 
Malevo)  still  hid  from  us  the  farther  Alps  of  the 
inner  country. 

After  a ride  of  an  hour  or  two  we  descended  to 
the  village  of  Arachova,  much  smaller  and  poorer 
than  its  namesake  in  Phocis  (above,  p.  274),  and 
thence  to  the  valley  of  a stream  called  Phonissa, 
the  murderess,  from  its  dangerous  floods,  but  at  the' 
moment  a pleasant  and  shallow  brook.  Down  its 
narrow  bed  we  went  for  hours,  crossing  and  recross- 
ing it,  or  riding  along  its  banks,  with  all  the  verdure 
gradually  increasing  with  the  change  of  climate  and 
of  shelter,  till  at  last  a turn  in  the  river  brought  us 
suddenly  in  sight  of  the  brilliant  serrated  crest  of 
Taygetus,  glittering  with  its  snow  in  the  sunshine. 
Then  we  knew  our  proper  landmark,  and  felt  that 
we  were  indeed  approaching  Sparta. 

But  we  still  had  a long  way  to  ride  down  our 
river  till  we  reached  its  confluence  with  the  Eurotas, 
near  to  which  we  stopped  at  a solitary  khan,  from 
which  it  is  an  easy  ride  to  visit  the  remains  of  Sel- 
lasia.  During  the  remaining  three  hours  we  de- 
scended the  banks  of  the  Eurotas,  with  the  country 
gradually  growing  richer,  and  the  stream  so  deep 
that  it  could  no  longer  be  forded.  There  is  a quaint 


SPARTA. 


441 


high  mediseval  bridge  at  the  head  of  the  vale  of 
Sparta.  On  a hot  summer’s  afternoon,  about  five 
o’clock,  we  rode,  dusty  and  tired,  into  Sparta. 

The  town  was  in  holiday,  and  athletic  sports  were 
going  on  in  commemoration  of  the  establishment  of 
Greek  liberty.  Crowds  of  fine  tall  men  were  in  the 
very  wide  regular  streets,  and  in  the  evening  this 
new  town  vindicated  its  ancient  title  of  eopoyopoc. 
But  the  very  first  glance  at  the  surroundings  of  the 
place  was  sufficient  to  correct  in  my  mind  a very 
widespread  error,  which  we  all  obtain  from  reading 
the  books  of  people  who  have  never  studied  history 
on  the  spot.  We  imagine  to  ourselves  the  Spartans 
as  hardy  mountaineers,  living  in  a rude  alpine  coun- 
try, with  sterile  soil,  the  rude  nurse  of  liberty. 
They  may  have  been  such  when  they  arrived  in 
prehistoric  times  from  the  mountains  of  Phocis, 
but  a very  short  residence  in  Laconia  must  have 
changed  them  very  much.  The  vale  of  Sparta  is 
the  richest  and  most  fertile  in  Peloponnesus.  The 
bounding  chains  of  mountains  are  separated  by  a 
stretch,  some  twenty  miles  wide,  of  undulating  hills 
and  slopes,  all  now  covered  with  vineyards,  orange 
and  lemon  orchards,  and  comfortable  homesteads  or 
villages.  The  great  chain  on  the  wrest  limits  the 
vale  by  a definite  line,  but  toward  the  east  the  hills 
that  run  toward  Malea  rise  very  gradually  and  with 
many  delays  beyond  the  arable  ground.  The  old 
Spartans  therefore  settled  in  the  richest  and  best 


442 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


country  available,  and  must  from  the  very  outset  of 
their  career  have  had  better  food,  better  climate,  and 
hence  much  more  luxury  than  their  neighbors. 

We  are  led  to  the  same  conclusion  by  the  art- 
remains  which  are  now  coming  to  light,  and  which 
are  being  collected  in  the  well-built  local  museum  of 
the  town.  They  show  us  that  there  was  an  archaic 
school  of  sculpture,  which  produced  votive  and 
funeral  reliefs,  and  therefore  that  the  old  Spartans 
were  by  no  means  so  opposed  to  art  as  they  have 
been  represented  in  the  histories.  The  poetry  of 
Alkman,  with  its  social  and  moral  freedom,  its 
suggestions  of  luxury  and  good  living,  shows  what 
kind  of  literature  the  Spartan  rulers  thought  fit  to 
import  and  encourage  in  the  city  of  Lycurgus.  The 
whole  sketch  of  Spartan  society  which  we  read  in 
Plutarch’s  Life  and  other  late  authorities  seems 
rather  to  smack  of  imaginary  reconstruction  on 
Doric  principles  than  of  historical  reality.  Contrasts 
there  were,  no  doubt,  between  Dorians  and  Ionians, 
nay,  even  between  Sparta  and  Tarentine  or  Argive 
Dorians ; but  still  Sparta  was  a rich  and  luxurious 
society,  as  is  confessed  on  all  hands  where  there  is 
any  mention  of  the  ladies  and  their  homes.  We 
might  as  well  infer  from  the  rudeness  of  the  dor- 
mitories in  the  College  at  Winchester,  or  from  the 
simplicity  of  an  English  man-of-war’s  mess,  that  our 
nation  consisted  of  rude  mountaineers  living  in  the 
sternest  simplicity. 


TAYGETUS. 


443 


But  if  I continue  to  write  in  this  way  I shall  have 
all  the  pedants  down  upon  me.  Let  us  return  to  the 
Sparta  of  to-day.  We  lodged  at  a very  bad  and  dear 
inn,  and  our  host’s  candid  excuse  for  his  exorbitant 
prices  was  the  fact  that  he  very  seldom  had  strangers 
to  rob,  and  so  must  plunder  those  that  came  without 
stint.  His  formula  was  perhaps  a little  more  decent, 
but  he  hardly  sought  to  disguise  the  plain  truth. 
When  we  sought  our  beds,  we  found  that  a very 
noisy  party  had  established  themselves  below  to 
celebrate  the  Feast  of  the  Liberation,  with  supper, 
speeches,  and  midnight  revelry. 

So,  as  usual,  there  was  little  possibility  of  sleep. 
Moreover,  I knew  that  we  had  a very  long  day’s 
journey  before  us  to  Kalamata,  so  I rose  before  the 
sun  and  before  my  companions,  to  make  preparations 
and  to  rouse  the  muleteers. 

On  opening  my  window,  I felt  that  I had  attained 
one  of  the  strange  moments  of  life  which  can  never 
be  forgotten.  The  air  was  preternaturally  clear  and 
cold,  and  the  sky  beginning  to  glow  faintly  with  the 
coming  day.  Straight  before  me,  so  close  that  it 
almost  seemed  within  reach  of  voice,  the  giant 
Taygetus,  which  rises  straight  from  the  plain,  stood 
up  into  the  sky,  its  black  and  purple  gradually 
brightening  into  crimson,  and  the  cold  blue-white 
of  its  snow  warming  into  rose.  There  was  a great 
feeling  of  peace  and  silence,  and  yet  a vast  diffusion 
of  sound.  From  the  whole  plain,  with  all  its  home- 


444 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


steads  and  villages,  myriads  of  cocks  were  proclaim- 
ing the  advent  of  the  dawn.  I had  never  thought 
there  were  so  many  cocks  in  all  the  world.  The 
ever-succeeding  voices  of  these  countless  thousands 
kept  up  one  continual  wave  of  sound,  such  as  I sup- 
pose could  not  be  equalled  anywhere  else  ; and  yet 
for  all  that,  as  I have  said,  there  was  a feeling  of 
silence,  a sense  that  no  other  living  thing  was 
abroad,  an  absolute  stillness  in  the  air,  a deep  sleep 
over  the  rest  of  nature. 

How  long  I stood  there,  and  forgot  my  hurry,  I 
know  not,  but  starting  up  at  last  as  the  sun  struck 
the  mountain,  I went  down,  and  found  below  stairs 
another  curious  contrast.  All  over  the  coffee-room 
(if  I may  so  dignify  it)  were  the  disordered  remains 
of  a disorderly  revel,  ashes  and  stains  and  fragments 
in  disgusting  confusion ; and  among  them  a solitary 
figure  was  mumbling  prayers  in  the  gloom  to  the 
image  of  a saint  with  a faint  lamp  burning  before  it. 
In  the  midst  of  the  wrecks  of  dissipation  was  the 
earnestness  of  devotion,  prayer  in  the  place  of 
ribaldry  ; perhaps,  too,  dead  formalism  in  the  place 
of  coarse  but  real  enjoyment. 

We  left  for  Mistra  before  six  in  the  morning,  so 
escaping  some  of  the  parting  inspection  which  the 
whole  town  was  ready  to  bestow  upon  us.  The  way 
led  us  past  many  orchards,  where  oranges  and  lemons 
were  growing  in  the  richest  profusion  on  great  trees, 
as  large  as  the  cherry-trees  in  the  Alps.  The 


MISTRA. 


445 


branches  were  bending  with  their  load,  and  there 
was  fruit  tumbled  into  the  grass,  and  studding  the 
ground  in  careless  plenty  with  its  ruddy  and  pale 
gold.  In  these  orchards,  with  their  deep  green 
masses  of  foliage,  the  nightingales  sing  all  day,  and 
we  heard  them  out-carolling  the  homelier  sounds  of 
awakening  husbandry.  During  all  the  many  rides  I 
have  taken  through  Greece,  no  valley  ever  struck 
me  with  the  sense  of  peace  and  wealth  so  much  as 
that  of  Sparta. 

After  an  hour  or  so  we  reached  the  picturesque 
town  of  Mistra,  now  nearly  deserted,  but  all  through 
the  Middle  Ages  the  capital  of  the  district,  nestled 
under  the  shelter  of  the  great  fortress  of  the  Ville- 
hardouins,  the  family  of  the  famous  chronicler.  Sepa- 
rated by  a deep  gorge  (or  langada)  with  its  torrent 
from  the  loftier  mountain,  this  picturesque  rock  with 
its  fortress  contains  the  most  remarkable  mediaeval 
remains,  Latin,  Greek,  Venetian,  Turkish,  in  all  the 
Morea.  Villehardouins  and  Paleologi  made  it  their 
seat  of  power,  and  filled  it  with  churches  and  palaces, 
to  which  I shall  return  when  we  speak  of  mediaeval 
Greece.  An  earthquake  about  fifty  years  ago  de- 
stroyed many  of  the  houses,  and  the  population 
then  founded  the  new  Sparta,  with  its  wide,  regular 
streets,  on  the  site  of  the  old  classical  city.  This 
resettlement  is  not  so  serious  a hindrance  to  archae- 
ology as  the  rebuilding  of  Athens,  for  we  know  that 
in  the  days  of  its  real  greatness  Sparta  was  a mere 


446 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


aggregate  of  villages,  and  the  walls  and  theatre 
which  are  still  visible  must  have  been  built  in  late 
Greek  or  Roman  times.  The  so-called  tomb  of 
Leonidas,  a square  chamber  built  with  huge  blocks 
of  ashlar  masonry,  of  which  three  courses  remain, 
appears  like  building  of  the  best  period,  but  its  his- 
tory is  wholly  unknown. 

We  reached  in  another  hour  the  steep  village  of 
Try  pi,  at  the  very  mouth  of  the  great  pass  through 
Taygetus — a beautiful  site,  with  houses  and  forest 
trees  standing  one  above  the  other  on  the  precipi- 
tous steep ; and  below,  the  torrent  rushing  into  the 
plain  to  join  the  Eurotas.  It  is  from  this  village 
that  we  ought  to  have  started  at  dawn,  and  where 
we  should  have  spent  the  previous  night,  for  even 
from  here  it  takes  eleven  full  hours  to  reach  Kala- 
mata  on  the  Gulf  of  Messene.  The  traveller  should 
send  on  his  ponies,  or  take  them  to  Mistra  and 
thence  to  Trypi  on  the  previous  afternoon.  The 
lodging  there  is  probably  not  much  worse  than  at 
Sparta. 

From  this  point  we  entered  at  once  into  the  great 
Langada  pass,  the  most  splendid  defile  in  Greece — 
the  only  way  from  Sparta  into  Messene  for  a distance 
of  thirty  miles  north  and  south.  It  is  indeed  pos- 
sible to  scale  the  mountain  at  a few  other  points,  but 
only  by  regular  alpine  climbing,  whereas  this  is  a 
regular  highway ; and  along  it  strings  of  mules, 
not  without  trouble,  make  their  passage  daily,  when 


’ 


. 

T f -|-v 

Langada  Pass 


THE  LANGADA  PASS. 


447 


the  snow  does  not  lie,  from  Sparta  and  from  Kala- 
mata. 

Nothing  can  exceed  the  picturesqueness  and 
beauty  of  this  pass,  and  nothing  was  stranger 
than  the  contrast  between  its  two  steeps.  That 
which  faced  south  was  covered  with  green  and  with 
spring  flowers — pale  anemones,  irises,  orchids,  vio- 
lets, and,  where  a stream  trickled  down,  with  prim- 
roses— a marsh  plant  in  this  country.  All  these 
were  growing  among  great  boulders  and  cliffs, 
whereas  on  the  opposite  side  the  whole  face  was 
bleak  and  barren,  the  rocks  being  striated  with  rich 
yellow  and  red  veins.  I suppose  in  hot  summer 
these  aspects  are  reversed.  High  above  us,  as  it 
were,  looking  down  from  the  summits,  were  great 
forests  of  fir-trees — a gloomy  setting  to  a grandiose 
and  savage  landscape.  The  day  was,  as  usual,  calm 
and  perfectly  fine,  with  a few  white  clouds  relieving 
the  deep  blue  of  the  sky.  As  we  were  threading 
our  way  among  the  rocks  of  the  river-course  we 
were  alarmed  by  large  stones  tumbling  from  above, 
and  threatening  to  crush  us.  Our  guides  raised  all 
the  echoes  with  their  shouts,  to  warn  any  uncon- 
scious disturber  of  this  solitude  that  there  were 
human  beings  beneath,  but  on  closer  survey  we 
found  that  our  possible  assassins  were  only  goats 
clambering  along  the  precipice  in  search  of  food, 
and  disturbing  loose  boulders  as  they  went. 

Farther  on  we  met  other  herds  of  these  quaint 


448 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


creatures  generally  tended  by  a pair  of  solitary  chil- 
dren, who  seemed  to  belong  to  no  human  kin,  but, 
like  birds  or  flowers,  to  be  the  natural  denizens  of 
these  wilds.  They  seemed  not  to  talk  or  play ; we 
never  heard  them  sing,  but  passed  them  sitting  in 
curious  vague  listlessness,  with  no  wonder,  no  curi- 
osity, in  their  deep  solemn  eyes.  There,  all  the  day 
long,  they  heard  no  sound  but  the  falling  water,  the 
tinkling  of  their  flocks,  and  the  great  whisper  of  the 
forest  pines  when  the  breeze  touched  them  on  its 
way  down  the  pass.  They  took  little  heed  of  us  as 
we  passed,  and  seemed  to  have  sunk  from  active 
beings  into  mere  passive  mirrors  of  the  external 
nature  around  them.  The  men  with  us,  on  the  other 
hand,  were  constantly  singing  and  talking.  They 
were  all  in  a strange  country  which  they  had  never 
seen  ; a serious  man  with  a gun  slung  around  his 
shoulder  was  our  guide  from  Trypi,  and  so  at  last  we 
reached  the  top  of  the  pass,  about  four  thousand  feet 
high,  marked  by  a little  chapel  to  St.  Elias,  and  once 
by  a stone  pillar  stating  the  boundary  between  Sparta 
and  Messene.  It  was  then  up  this  pass,  and  among 
these  forests,  that  the  young  Spartans  had  steeled 
themselves  by  hunting  the  wolf  and  the  bear  in 
peace,  and  by  raids  and  surprises  in  days  of  war. 

The  descent  was  longer  and  more  varied ; some- 
times through  well  cultivated  olive  yards,  mulberries, 
and  thriving  villages,  sometimes  along  giant  slopes, 
where  a high  wind  would  have  made  our  progress 


KALAMATA. 


449 


very  difficult.  Gradually  the  views  opened  and  ex- 
tended, and  in  the  evening  we  could  see  down  to  the 
coast  of  Messene,  and  the  sea  far  away.  But  we 
did  not  reach  Kalamata  till  long  after  nightfall,  and 
rested  gladly  in  a less  uncomfortable  inn  than  we  had 
yet  found  in  the  journey. 

The  town  is  a cheery  and  pleasant  little  place, 
with  remains  of  a large  mediaeval  castle  occupied  by 
Franks,  Venetians,  Turks,  which  was  the  first  seat 
of  the  Villehardouins,  and  from  which  they  founded 
their  second  fort  at  Mistra.  The  river  Nedon  here 
runs  into  the  sea,  and  there  is  a sort  of  open  road- 
stead for  ships,  where  steamers  call  almost  daily,  and 
a good  deal  of  coasting  trade  (silk,  currants,  etc.) 
goes  on.  The  only  notable  feature  in  the  architect- 
ure is  the  pretty  bell  tower  of  the  church,  of  a type 
which  I afterward  saw  in  other  parts  of  Messenia, 
but  which  is  not  usual  in  these  late  Byzantine 
buildings. 

As  there  was  nothing  to  delay  us  here,  we  left 
next  morning  for  the  convent  of  Vourkano,  from 
which  we  were  to  visit  Mount  Ithome,  and  the  fa- 
mous ruins  of  Epaminondas’s  second  great  founda- 
tion in  Peloponnesus — the  revived  Messene.  The 
plain  (called  Macaria  or  Felix  from  its  fertility) 
through  which  we  rode  was  indeed  both  rich  and 
prosperous,  but  swampy  in  some  places  and  very 
dusty  in  others.  There  seemed  to  be  active  cultiva- 
tion of  mulberries,  figs,  olives,  lemons,  almonds, 
29 


450 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


currant-grapes,  with  cactus  hedges  and  plenty  of 
cattle.  There  were  numerous  little  pot-houses  along 
the  road,  where  mastich  and  lucumia  were  sold,  as 
well  as  dried  fruit  and  oranges.  If  the  Nedon  was 
broad  and  shallow,  we  found  the  Pamisos  narrow  and 
deep,  so  that  it  could  only  be  crossed  by  a bridge. 
A few  hours  brought  us  to  the  ascent  of  Mount 
Ithome,  on  a high  shoulder  of  which  is  situated  the 
famous  and  hospitable  convent  of  Vourkano  (or 
Voulkano). 

The  building,  very  picturesquely  situated  high  on 
the  side  of  Mount  Ithome,  commands  a long  slope 
covered  with  brushwood  and  wild-flowers,  the  ideal 
spot  for  a botanist,  as  many  rills  of  water  run  down 
the  descent  and  produce  an  abundant  and  various 
vegetation.  There  is  not  a sod  of  soil  which  does 
not  contain  bulbs  and  roots  of  flowers.  Below 
stretches  the  valley  of  Stenyclarus,  so  famous  in  the 
old  annals  of  Messene.  It  was  studded  with  groves 
of  orange  and  lemon,  olive  and  date,  mulberry  and 
fig.  The  whole  of  this  country  has  an  aspect  far 
more  southern  and  subtropical  than  any  part  of 
Laconia. 

The  monks  treated  us  with  great  kindness,  even 
pressing  us  to  sit  down  to  dinner  before  any  ablu- 
tions had  been  thought  of,  and  while  we  were  still 
covered  with  the  dust  of  a very  hot  and  stormy 
journey  along  high  roads.  The  plan  of  the  build- 
ing, which  is  not  old,  having  been  moved  down  from 


VOURKANO. 


451 


the  summit  in  the  last  century,  is  that  of  a court 
closed  with  a gateway,  with  covered  corridors 
above  looking  into  the  court,  and  a very  tawdry 
chapel  occupying  its  centre.  It  seemed  a large  and 
well-to-do  establishment,  a sort  of  Greek  Monte 
Cassino  in  appearance ; and  with  the  same  stir  of 
country  people  and  passing  visitors  about  it.  Far 
above  us,  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Ithome — the  site 
of  human  sacrifices  to  Zeus  Ithomates  in  days  of 
trouble— -we  saw  a chapel  on  the  highest  top,  2500 
feet  over  the  sea.  Here  they  told  us  that  a solitary 
anchorite  spent  his  life,  praying  and  doing  service 
at  his  altar,  far  above  the  sounds  of  human  life. 
We  made  inquiry  concerning  the  history  of  this 
saint,  who  was  once  a wealthy  Athenian  citizen, 
with  a wife  and  family.  His  wife  was  dead,  and 
his  sons  settled  in  the  world,  so  he  resolved  to 
devote  the  rest  of  his  years  to  the  service  of  God 
apart  from  the  ways  of  men.  Once  a fortnight  only 
he  descended  to  the  convent,  and  brought  up  the 
necessary  food.  On  his  lonely  watch  he  had  no 
company  but  timid  hares,  travelling  quail,  and  an 
occasional  eagle,  that  came  and  sat  by  him  without 
fear,  perhaps  in  wonder  at  this  curious  and  silent 
friend.  The  monks  below  had  often  urged  him  to 
catch  these  creatures  for  their  benefit,  but  he  refused 
to  profane  their  lofty  asylum.  So  he  sits,  looking  out 
from  his  watch  upon  sunshine  and  rain,  upon  hot  calm 
and  wild  storm,  with  the  whole  Peloponnesus  extended 


452 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


beneath  his  eyes.  He  sees  from  afar  the  works  and 
ways  of  men,  and  the  world  that  he  has  left  for  ever. 
Is  it  not  strange  that  still  upon  the  same  height  men 
offer  to  their  God  these  human  sacrifices,  changed 
indeed  in  appearance,  but  in  real  substance  the 
same  ? 

The  main  excursion  from  the  monastery  is  over 
the  saddle  of  the  mountain  westward,  and  through 
the  u Laconian  gate  ” down  into  the  valley  beneath, 
to  see  the  remains  of  Epaminondas’s  great  founda- 
tion, the  new  Messene.  There  are  still  faint  traces 
of  a small  theatre  and  some  other  buildings,  but  of 
the  walls  and  gates  enough  to  tell  us  pretty  clearly 
how  men  built  fortifications  in  those  days.  The 
circuit  of  the  walls  included  the  fort  on  the  summit, 
and  enclosed  a large  tract  of  country,  so  much  that 
it  would  be  impossible  for  any  garrison  to  defend  it, 
and  accordingly  we  hear  of  the  city  being  taken  by 
sudden  assault  more  than  once.  The  plan  is  very 
splendid,  but  seems  to  us  rather  ostentatious  than 
serious  for  a new  foundation  liable  to  attacks  from 
Sparta.  The  walls  were,  however,  beautifully  built, 
with  towers  at  intervals,  and  gates  for  sallies.  The 
best  extant  gate  is  called  the  Arcadian,  and  con- 
sisted of  an  outer  and  inner  pair  of  folding-doors, 
enclosing  a large  round  chamber  for  the  watch. 
The  size  of  the  doorposts  and  lintels  is  gigantic,  and 
shows  that  there  was  neither  time  nor  labor  spared 
to  make  Messene  a stately  settlement.  There  was 


Arcadian  Gateway,  Messene 


MESSENE. 


453 


almost  enough  land  enclosed  within  the  walls  to  feed 
the  inhabitants  of  the  houses,  for  their  number  never 
became  very  great.  If  Megalopolis,  a far  more  suc- 
cessful foundation,  was  far  too  large  for  its  popula- 
tion, how  much  more  must  this  have  been  the  case 
with  Messene  ? In  military  architecture,  however, 
we  have  no  other  specimen  of  old  Hellenic  work 
equal  to  it,  except  perhaps  Eleutherse,  which  re- 
sembles it  in  style  strongly,  though  the  enclosure 
is  quite  small  in  comparison. 

We  could  have  gone  up  from  Messene  by  a very 
long  day’s  ride  to  Bassse,  and  so  to  Olympia,  but  we 
had  had  enough  of  riding  and  preferred  to  make  a 
short  day  to  the  sea  at  Kyparissia,  and  thence  by 
steamer  to  Katakolo,  from  which  rail  and  road  to 
Olympia  are  quite  easy.  So  we  left  the  convent  in 
the  morning  and  descended  into  the  valley,  to  turn 
north  and  then  north-east,  along  the  river  courses 
which  mark  the  mule-tracks  through  the  wild 
country.  We  crossed  a strange  bridge  over  the 
junction  of  two  rivers  made  of  three  arches  meeting 
in  the  centre,  and  of  which  the  substructure  were 
certainly  old  Greek  building.  We  then  passed 
through  bleak  tracts  of  uncultivated  land,  perhaps 
the  most  signal  case  of  insufficient  population  we 
had  seen  in  Greece.  All  these  waste  fields  were 
covered  with  great  masses  of  asphodel,  through 
which  rare  herds  of  swine  were  feeding,  and  the 
sight  of  these  fields  suggested  to  me  that  by  the 


454 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


u meadow  of  asphodel  ” in  Homer  is  not  meant  a 
pleasant  garden,  or  desirable  country,  but  merely  a 
dull  waste  in  which  there  is  nothing  done,  and  no 
sign  of  human  labor  or  human  happiness.  Had 
there  been  night  or  gloom  over  this  stony  tract,  with 
its  tall  straggling  plants  and  pale  flowers,  one  could 
easily  imagine  it  the  place  which  the  dead  hero  in- 
habited when  he  told  his  friend  that  the  vilest  menial 
on  earth  was  happier  than  he. 

After  some  hours  the  mountains  began  to  approach 
on  either  side,  and  we  reached  a country  wonderful 
in  its  contrast.  Great  green  slopes  reached  up  from 
us  far  away  into  the  hills,  studded  with  great  single 
forest  trees,  and  among  them  huge  shrubs  of  arbutus 
and  mastich,  trimmed  and  rounded  as  if  for  orna- 
ment. It  was  like  a splendid  park,  kept  by  an  Eng- 
lish magnate.  The  regularity  of  shape  in  the  shrubs 
arises,  no  doubt,  from  the  constant  cropping  of  the 
young  shoots  all  round  by  herds  of  goats,  which  we 
met  here  and  there  in  this  beautiful  solitude.  The 
river  bank  where  we  rode  was  clothed  with  oleander, 
prickly  pear,  and  other  flowering  shrubs  which  I 
could  not  name. 

At  last  woods  of  ancient  olives,  with  great  gnarled 
stems,  told  us  that  we  were  nearing  some  important 
settlement,  and  the  pleasant  town  of  Kyparissia 
came  in  view — now,  alas ! a heap  of  ruins  since  the 
recent  earthquake.  Here  we  took  leave  of  our 
ponies,  mules,  and  human  followers ; but  the  pathos 


KYPARISSIA. 


455 


of  parting  with  these  intimate  companions  of  many 
days  was  somewhat  marred  by  the  divergence  of 
their  notions  and  ours  as  to  their  pay.  Yet  these 
differences,  when  settled,  did  not  prevent  them  from 
giving  us  an  affectionate  farewell. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


MYCESLE  AND  TIRYNS. 

I have  set  apart  a chapter  for  Mycenae  and 
Tiryns,  because  the  discoveries  of  Dr.  Schliemann 
there  have  raised  so  many  new  problems,  and  have 
so  largely  increased  public  curiosity  about  them, 
that  a book  of  travels  in  Greece  cannot  venture  to 
avoid  the  subject;  even  long  before  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann’s  day,  the  learned  and  deliberate  travellers 
who  visited  the  Morea,  and  wrote  their  great  books, 
found  ample  scope  for  description,  and  large  room 
for  erudite  discussion.  It  is  a curious  thing  to  add, 
but  strictly  true,  that  all  the  new  facts  brought  out 
by  the  late  excavations  have,  as  yet,  contributed  but 
little  to  our  knowledge  about  the  actual  history  of 
the  country,  and  that  almost  every  word  of  what  was 
summed  up  from  all  existing  sources  twenty  years 
ago,  by  Ernst  Curtius,  can  still  be  read  with  far 
more  profit  than  the  rash  speculations  which  appear 
almost  weekly  in  the  periodical  press. 

It  is  impossible  to  approach  Mycenae  from  any 
side  without  being  struck  with  the  picturesqueness 
of  the  site.  If  you  come  down  over  the  mountains 
from  Corinth,  as  soon  as  you  reach  the  head  of  the 
456 


MYCENAE. 


457 


valley  of  the  Inachus,  which  is  the  plain  of  Argos, 
you  turn  aside  to  the  left,  or  east,  into  a secluded 
corner — u a recess  of  the  horse-feeding  Argos,”  as 
Homer  calls  it,  and  then  you  find  on  the  edge  of 
the  valley,  and  where  the  hills  begin  to  rise  one 
behind  the  other,  the  village  of  Charvati.  When 
you  ascend  from  this  place,  you  find  that  the  lofty 
Mount  Elias  is  separated  from  the  plain  by  two 
nearly  parallel  waves  of  land,  which  are  indeed 
joined  at  the  northern  end  by  a curving  saddle, 
but  elsewhere  are  divided  by  deep  gorges.  The 
loftier  and  shorter  wave  forms  the  rocky  citadel  of 
Mycenae — the  Argion,  as  it  was  once  called.  The 
lower  and  longer  was  part  of  the  outer  city,  which 
occupied  both  this  hill  and  the  gorge  under  the 
Argion.  As  you  walk  along  the  lower  hill,  you  find 
the  Treasure-house  of  Atreus,  as  it  is  called,  built 
into  the  side  which  faces  the  Acropolis.  But  there 
are  other  ruined  treasuries  on  the  outer  slope,  and 
the  newly-opened  one  is  just  at  the  joining  saddle, 
where  the  way  winds  round  to  lead  you  up  the 
greater  hill  to  the  giant  gate  with  the  Lion  portal. 
If  we  represent  the  high  levels  under  the  image  of 
a fishing-hook,  with  the  shank  placed  downward 
(south),  and  the  point  lying  to  the  right  (east),  then 
the  Great  Treasury  is  at  that  spot  in  the  shank 
which  is  exactly  opposite  the  point,  and  faces  it. 
The  point  and  barb  are  the  Acropolis.  The  New 
Treasury  is  just  at  the  turn  of  the  hook,  facing  in- 


458 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


ward  (to  the  south).  This  will  give  a rough  idea 
of  the  site.  It  is  not  necessary  to  enter  into  details, 
when  so  many  maps  and  plans  are  now  in  circula- 
tion. But  I would  especially  refer  to  the  admirable 
illustrations  in  Scliliemann’s  Mycenae , where  all  these 
matters  are  made  perfectly  plain  and  easy. 

When  we  first  visited  the  place  it  was  in  the 
afternoon  of  a splendid  summer’s  day ; the  fields 
were  yellow  and  white  with  stubbles  or  with  dust, 
and  the  deep  gray  shadow  of  a passing  cloud  was 
the  only  variety  in  the  color  of  the  upper  plain. 
For  here  there  are  now  no  trees,  the  corn  had  been 
reaped,  and  the  land  asserted  its  character  as  very 
tliirsty  Argos.  But  as  we  ascended  to  higher 
ground,  the  groves  and  plantations  of  the  lower 
plain  came  in  sight,  the  splendid  blue  of  the  bay 
began  to  frame  the  picture,  and  the  setting  sun  cast 
deeper  shadow  and  richer  color  over  all  the  view. 
Down  at  the  river-bed  great  oleanders  were  spread- 
ing their  sheets  of  bloom,  like  the  rhododendrons  in 
our  climate,  but  they  were  too  distant  to  form  a 
feature  in  the  prospect. 

I saw  the  valley  of  Argos  again  in  spring,  in  our 
u roaring  moon  of  daffodil  and  crocus it  was  the 
time  of  growing  corn,  of  scarlet  anemone  and  purple 
cistus,  but  there  too  of  high  winds  and  glancing 
shadows.  Then  all  the  plain  was  either  brilliant 
green  with  growing  wheat,  or  ruddy  brown  with 
recent  tillage  ; there  were  clouds  about  the  moun- 


The  Arrive  Plain 


MYCE%TiE. 


459 


tains,  and  changing  colors  in  the  sky,  and  a feeling 
of  freshness  and  life  very  different  from  the  golden 
haze  and  dreamy  calmness  of  a southern  June. 

I can  hardly  say  which  of  these  seasons  was  the 
more  beautiful,  but  I shall  always  associate  the  sum- 
mer scene  with  the  charm  of  a first  visit  to  this 
famous  spot,  and  still  more  with  the  venerable  and 
undisturbed  aspect  of  the  ruins  before  they  had  been 
profaned  by  modern  research.  It  is,  I suppose, 
ungrateful  to  complain  of  these  things,  and  we  must 
admit  that  great  discoveries  outbalance  the  aesthetic 
damage  done  to  an  ancient  ruin  by  digging  unsightly 
holes  and  piling  mounds  of  earth  about  it ; but  who 
can  contemplate  without  sorrow  the  covering  of  the 
finest  piece  of  the  Cyclopean  wall  at  Mycenae  with 
the  rubbish  taken  away  from  over  the  tombs  ? Who 
will  not  regret  the  fig-tree  which  spread  its  shade 
over  the  portal  of  the  House  of  Atreus  ? This  fig- 
tree  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  older  photographs,  and 
is  in  the  woodcut  of  the  entrance  given  in  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann’s  book,  but  the  visitor  of  to-day  will  look  for 
it  in  vain.  On  the  other  hand,  the  opening  at  the 
top,  which  had  been  there  since  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  but  which  was  closed  when  I first 
visited  the  chamber,  had  been  again  uncovered,  and 
so  it  was  much  easier  to  examine  the  inner  arrange- 
ment of  the  building. 

I am  not  sure  that  this  wonderful  structure  was 
visited  or  described  by  any  traveller  from  the  days 


460 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


of  Pausanias  till  after  the  year  1800.  At  least  I 
can  find  no  description  from  any  former  traveller 
quoted  in  the  many  accurate  accounts  which  the 
present  century  has  produced.  Chandler,  in  1776, 
intended  to  visit  Mycenae,  but  accidentally  missed 
the  spot  on  his  way  from  Argos  to  Corinth — a thing 
more  likely  to  happen  then,  when  there  was  a good 
deal  of  wooding  in  the  upper  part  of  the  plain.  But 
Clarke,  Dodwell,  and  Gell  all  visited  and  described 
the  place  between  1800  and  1806,  and  the  latter 
two  published  accurate  drawings  of  both  the  portal 
and  the  inner  view,  which  was  possible  owing  to 
the  aperture  made  at  the  summit. 

About  the  same  time  Lord  Elgin  had  turned  his 
attention  to  the  Treasury,  and  had  made  excavations 
about  the  place,  finding  several  fragments  of  very 
old  engraved  basalt  and  limestone,  which  had  been 
employed  to  ornament  the  entrance.  Some  of  these 
fragments  are  now  in  the  British  Museum.  But, 
though  both  Clarke  and  Leake  allude  to  u Lord 
Elgin’s  excavators,”  they  do  not  specify  what  was 
performed,  or  in  what  condition  the  place  had  been 
before  their  researches.  There  is  no  published  ac- 
count of  this  interesting  point,  which  is  probably  to 
be  solved  by  the  still  unpublished  journals  said  to  be 
in  the  possession  of  the  present  Earl.1  This  much 
is,  however,  certain,  that  the  chamber  was  not  first 

1 I have  made  special  inquiries  for  these,  but  without  any  result. 
They  seem  to  be  lost. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  ATREUS. 


461 


entered  at  this  time ; for  Dr.  Clarke  speaks  of  its 
appearance  as  that  of  a place  open  for  centuries. 
We  know  that  systematic  rifling  of  ancient  tombs 
took  place  at  the  close  of  the  classical  epoch  j1  we 
can  imagine  it  repeated  in  every  age  of  disorder  or 
barbarism  j and  the  accounts  we  hear  of  the  Genoese 
plundering  the  great  mounds  of  the  Crimea  show 
that  even  these  civilized  and  artistic  Italians  thought 
it  no  desecration  to  obtain  gold  and  jewels  from  un- 
named, long-forgotten  sepulchres.  It  seems,  there- 
fore, impossible  to  say  at  what  epoch — probably  even 
before  Pausanias — this  chamber  was  opened.  The 
story  in  Dr.  Schliemann’s  book,2  which  he  quotes 
from  a Greek  newspaper,  and  which  attributes  the 
plundering  of  it  to  Veli  Pasha,  in  1810,  is  positively 
groundless,  and  in  direct  contradiction  to  the  irre- 
fragable evidence  I have  above  adduced.  The  Pasha 
may  have  probed  the  now  ruined  chambers  on  the 
outer  side  of  the  hill j but  the  account  of  what  he 
found  is  so  mythical  that  the  whole  story  may  be 
rejected  as  undeserving  of  credit. 

I need  not  attempt  a fresh  description  of  the 
Great  Treasury,  in  the  face  of  such  ample  and 
accurate  reports  as  those  I have  indicated.  It  is  in 
no  sense  a rude  building,  or  one  of  a helpless  and  bar- 
barous age,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  product  of 

1 Cf.  p.  389,  and  the  outrages  of  the  Galatian  mercenaries  under 
Philip  V.  of  Macedon. 

2 Mycence , p.  49. 


462 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


enormous  appliances,  and  of  a perfect  knowledge 
of  all  the  mechanical  requirements  for  any  building, 
if  we  except  the  application  of  the  arch.  The 
stones  are  hewn  square,  or  curved  to  form  the  circu- 
lar dome  within  with  admirable  exactness.  Above 
the  enormous  lintel-stone,  nearly  twenty-seven  feet 
long,  and  which  is  doubly  grooved,  by  way  of  orna- 
ment, all  along  its  edge  over  the  doorway,  there  is 
now  a triangular  window  or  aperture,  which  was  cer- 
tainly filled  with  some  artistic  carving  like  the 
analogous  space  over  the  lintel  in  the  gate  of  the 
Acropolis.  Shortly  after  Lord  Elgin  had  cleared 
the  entrance,  Gell  and  Dodwell  found  various  pieces 
of  green  and  red  marble  carved  with  geometrical 
patterns,  some  of  which  are  reproduced  in  Dodwell’s 
book.  Gell  also  found  some  fragments  in  a neigh- 
boring chapel,  and  others  are  said  to  be  built  into  a 
wall  at  Nauplia.  There  are  supposed  to  have  been 
short  columns  standing  on  each  side  in  front  of  the 
gate,  with  some  ornament  surmounting  them ; but 
this  seems  to  me  to  rest  on  doubtful  evidence,  and 
on  theoretical  reconstruction.  Dr.  Schliemann,  how- 
ever, asserts  them  to  have  been  found  at  the  entrance 
of  the  second  treasury  which  Mrs.  Schliemann  ex- 
cavated, though  his  account  is  somewhat  vague 
(MycencCj  p.  140).  There  is  the  strongest  archi- 
tectural reason  for  the  triangular  aperture  over  the 
door,  as  it  diminishes  the  enormous  weight  to  be 
borne  by  the  lintel ; and  here,  no  doubt,  some  orna- 


THE  TREASURY  OF  ATREUS. 


463 


ment  very  like  the  lions  on  the  citadel  gate  may 
have  been  applied. 

The  extreme  darkness  of  the  chamber  during  our 
first  visit  prevented  me  from  discovering,  even  with 
the  aid  of  torches,  the  nail-marks  which  all  the 
earlier  travellers  found  there,  and  which  are  now 
again  easily  to  be  seen.  So  also  the  outer  lintel- 
stone  is  not  by  any  means  the  largest,  but  is  far 
exceeded  by  the  inner,  which  lies  next  to  it,  and 
which  reaches  on  each  side  of  the  entrance  a long 
way  round  the  chamber,  its  inner  surface  being 
curved  to  suit  the  form  of  the  wall.  Along  this 
curve  it  is  twenty-nine  feet  long ; it  is,  moreover, 
seventeen  feet  broad,  and  nearly  four  feet  thick, 
weighing  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-four 
tons ! 

When  we  first  entered  by  the  light  of  torches,  we 
found  ourselves  in  the  great  cone-shaped  chamber, 
which,  strange  to  say,  reminded  me  of  the  Pantheon 
at  Rome  more  than  any  other  building  I know,  and 
is,  nevertheless,  built  on  a very  different  principle. 
The  stones  are  not,  indeed,  pushed  forward  one 
above  the  other,  as  in  ruder  stone  roofs  through 
Ireland ; but  each  of  them,  which  is  on  the  other 
surfaces  cut  perfectly  square,  has  its  inner  face 
curved  so  that  the  upper  end  comes  out  several 
inches  above  the  lower.  So  each  stone  carries  on 
the  conical  plan,  having  its  lower  line  fitting  closely 
to  the  upper  line  of  the  one  beneath,  and  the 


464 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


whole  dome  ends  with  a great  flat  stone  laid  on  the 
top.1 

Dodwell  still  found  copper  nails  of  some  inches  in 
length,  which  he  supposed  to  have  been  used  to 
fasten  on  thin  plates  of  shining  metal ; but  I was 
at  first  unable  to  see  even  the  holes  in  the  roof, 
which  other  travellers  had  believed  to  be  the  places 
where  the  nails  were  inserted.  However,  without 
being  provided  with  magnesium  wire,  it  was  then 
impossible  to  light  the  chamber  sufficiently  for  a 
positive  decision  on  this  point.  A comparatively 
small  side  chamber  is  hollowed  out  in  the  rock  and 
earth,  without  any  stone  casing  or  ornament  what- 
ever, but  with  a similar  triangular  aperture  over  its 
doorway.  Schliemann  tells  us  he  dug  two  trenches 
in  this  chamber,  and  that,  besides  finding  some 
hewn  pieces  of  limestone,  he  found  in  the  middle  a 
circular  depression  (apparently  of  stone),  twenty- 
one  inches  deep,  and  about  one  yard  in  diameter, 
which  he  compares  to  a large  wash-bowl.  Any  one 
who  has  visited  New  Grange  will  be  struck  with  the 
likeness  of  this  description  to  the  large  stone  saucers 

1 According  to  Pausanias,  the  treasury  of  Minyas  was  differ- 
ently built ; for  the  top  stone  of  its  flat  dome  was  the  keystone 
(dp/iovia)  of  the  whole.  This  is  not  true.  The  stone  roofs  in 
Ireland  seem  to  me  far  more  curious  in  construction,  for  two 
reasons:  first,  because  the  stones  used  are  so  very  small;  and 
secondly,  because  there  can  be,  of  course,  no  pressure  on  a roof 
like  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  a subterranean  chamber  from 
above. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  ATREUS. 


465 


which  are  still  to  be  seen  there,  and  of  which  I shall 
speak  presently. 

There  has  been  much  controversy  about  the  use  to 
which  this  building  was  applied,  and  we  cannot  now 
attempt  to  change  the  name,  even  if  we  could  prove 
its  absurdity.  Pausanias,  who  saw  My  cense  in  the 
second  century  A.  D.,  found  it  in  much  the  same  state 
as  we  do,  and  was  no  better  informed  than  we, 
though  he  tells  us  the  popular  belief  that  this  and 
its  fellows  were  treasure-houses  like  that  of  the 
Minyse  at  Orchomenus,  which  was  very  much 
greater,  and  was,  in  his  opinion,  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  things  in  all  Greece.  But  it  does  not 
seem  to  me  that  his  opinion,  which,  indeed,  is 
not  very  clear,  need  in  the  least  shackle  our  judg- 
ments. 

The  majority  of  scholars  incline  to  the  theory  that 
it  is  a tomb.  In  the  first  place,  there  are  three  other 
similar  buildings  quite  close  to  it,  which  Pausanias 
mentions  as  the  treasure-houses  of  the  sons  of 
Atreus,  but  their  number  makes  it  most  unlikely 
that  any  of  them  could  be  for  treasure.  Surely 
such  a house  could  only  be  owned  by  the  reigning 
king,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  his  successor 
should  make  himself  a new  vault  for  this  purpose. 
In  the  next  place,  these  buildings  were  all  under- 
ground and  dark,  and  exactly  such  as  would  be 
selected  for  tombs.  Thirdly,  they  are  not  situated 
within  the  enclosure  of  the  citadel  of  Mycenae,  but 
30 


466 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


are  outside  it,  and  probably  outside  the  original  town 
altogether — a thing  quite  inconceivable  if  they  were 
meant  for  treasure,  but  most  reasonable,  and  accord- 
ing to  analogy,  if  they  were  used  as  tombs.  This, 
too,  would  of  course  explain  the  plurality  of  them — 
different  kings  having  built  them,  just  like  the 
pyramids  of  Chufu,  Safra,  and  Menkerah,  and  many 
others,  along  the  plain  of  Memphis  in  Egypt.  It  is 
even  quite  easy  and  natural  to  explain  on  this 
hypothesis  how  they  came  to  be  thought  treasure- 
houses.  It  is  known  that  the  sepulchral  tumuli  of 
similar  construction  in  other  places,  and  possibly 
built  by  kindred  people,  contained  much  treasure, 
left  there  by  way  of  honor  to  the  deceased. 
Herodotus  describes  this  in  Scythian  tombs,  some 
of  which  have  been  opened  of  late,  and  have 
verified  his  assertions.1  The  lavish  expense  at 
Patroclus’s  funeral,  in  the  Iliad,  shows  the  preva- 
lence of  similar  notions  among  early  Greeks,  who 
held,  down  to  ^Eschylus’s  day,  that  the  importance 
of  a man  among  the  dead  was  in  proportion  to  the 
circumstance  with  which  his  tomb  was  treated  by 
the  living.  It  may,  therefore,  be  assumed  as  certain 
that  these  strongholds  of  the  dead,  if  they  were 
such,  were  filled  with  many  precious  things  in  gold 
and  other  metals,  intended  as  parting  gifts  in  honor 
of  the  king  who  was  laid  to  rest.  Long  after  the 
devastation  of  Mycenae,  I suppose  that  these  tombs 

1 Cf.  Macpherson’s  Antiquities  of  Kertch. 


THE  TREASURY  OF  ATREUS. 


467 


were  opened  in  search  of  treasure,  and  not  in  vain ; 
and  so  nothing  was  said  about  the  skeleton  tenant, 
while  rumors  went  abroad  of  the  rich  treasure-trove 
within  the  giant  portal.  Thus,  then,  the  tradition 
would  spring  up  and  grow,  that  the  building  was  the 
treasure-house  of  some  old  legendary  king. 

These  antiquarian  considerations  have  led  us  away 
from  the  actual  survey  of  the  old  vault,  for  ruin  it 
cannot  be  called.  The  simplicity  and  massiveness 
of  its  structure  have  defied  age  and  violence,  and, 
except  for  the  shattered  ornaments  and  a few  pieces 
over  the  inner  side  of  the  window,  not  a stone 
appears  ever  to  have  been  moved  from  its  place. 
Standing  at  the  entrance,  you  look  out  upon  the 
scattered  masonry  of  the  walls  of  Mycense,  on  the 
hillock  over  against  you.  Close  beyond  this  is  a 
dark  and  solemn  chain  of  mountains.  The  view  is 
narrow  and  confined,  and  faces  the  north,  so  that, 
for  most  of  the  day,  the  gate  is  dark  and  in  shadow. 
We  can  conceive  no  fitter  place  for  the  burial  of  a 
king,  within  sight  of  his  citadel,  in  the  heart  of  a 
deep  natural  hillock,  with  a great  solemn  portal 
symbolizing  the  resistless  strength  of  the  barrier 
which  he  had  passed  into  an  unknown  land.  But 
one  more  remark  seems  necessary.  This  treasure- 
house  is  by  no  means  a Hellenic  building  in  its 
features.  It  has  the  same  perfection  of  construction 
which  can  be  seen  at  Eleutherse,  or  any  other  Greek 
fort,  but  still  the  really  analogous  buildings  are  to  be 


468 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


found  in  far  distant  lands — in  the  raths  of  Ireland 
and  the  barrows  of  the  Crimea. 

I have  had  the  opportunity  of  comparing  the 
structure  and  effect  of  the  great  sepulchral  monu- 
ments in  the  county  of  Meath,  in  Ireland.  Two  of 
these,  Dowth  and  New  Grange,  are  opened,  and  can 
be  entered  almost  as  easily  as  the  treasury  of 
Atreus.  They  lie  close  to  the  rich  valley  of  the 
Boyne,  in  that  part  of  the  country  which  was 
pointed  out  by  nature  as  the  earliest  seat  of  wealth 
and  culture.  Dowth  is  the  ruder  and  less  orna- 
mented, and  therefore  not  improbably  the  older,  but 
is  less  suited  for  the  present  comparison  than  the 
greater  and  more  ornate  New  Grange. 

This  splendid  tomb  is  not  a whit  less  remarkable, 
or  less  colossal  in  its  construction,  than  those  at 
Mycenae,  but  differs  in  many  details.  It  was  not 
hollowed  out  in  a hillside,  but  was  built  of  great 
upright  stones,  with  flat  slabs  laid  over  them,  and 
then  covered  with  a mound  of  earth.  An  enormous 
circle  of  giant  boulders  stands  round  the  foot  of  the 
mound.  Instead  of  passing  through  a short  entrance 
into  a great  vaulted  chamber,  there  is  a long  narrow 
corridor,  which  leads  to  a much  smaller,  but  still 
very  lofty  room,  nearly  twenty  feet  high.  Three 
recesses  in  the  walls  of  this  latter  each  contain  a 
large  round  saucer,  so  to  speak,  made  of  single 
stone,  in  which  the  remains  of  the  dead  seem  to 
have  been  laid.  This  saucer  is  very  shallow,  and 


GREEK  AND  IRISH  TOMBS. 


469 


not  more  than  four  feet  in  diameter.  The  great 
stones  with  which  the  chamber  and  passage  are  con- 
structed are  not  hewn  or  shaped,  and  so  far  the 
building  is  rather  comparable  with  that  of  Tiryns 
than  that  of  Mycenae.  But  all  over  the  faces  of  the 
stones  are  endless  spiral  and  zigzag  ornaments,  even 
covering  built-in  surfaces,  and  thus  invisible,  so  that 
this  decoration  must  have  been  applied  to  the  slabs 
prior  to  the  building.  On  the  outside  stones,  both 
under  and  above  the  entry,  there  is  a well-executed 
carving  of  more  finished  geometrical  designs. 

Putting  aside  minor  details,  it  may  be  said  that 
while  both  monuments  show  an  equal  display  of 
human  strength,  and  an  equal  contempt  for  human 
toil,  which  were  lavished  upon  them  without  stint, 
the  Greek  building  shows  far  greater  finish  of 
design  and  neatness  of  execution,  together  with 
greater  simplicity.  The  stones  are  all  carefully  hewn 
and  fitted,  but  not  carved  or  decorated.  The  tri- 
angular carved  block  over  the  lintel,  and  the  sup- 
posed metal  plates  on  the  interior,  were  both  foreign 
to  the  original  structure.  On  the  contrary,  while 
the  Irish  tomb  is  a far  greater  feature  in  the  land- 
scape— a landmark  in  the  district — the  great  stones 
within  are  not  fitted  together,  or  hewn  into  shape, 
and  yet  they  are  covered  with  patterns  and  designs 
strangely  similar  to  the  carvings  found  by  Dodwell 
and  Dr.  Schliemann  at  the  Argive  tombs.  Thus  the 
Irish  builders,  with  far  greater  rudeness,  show  a 


470 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


greater  taste  for  ornament.  They  care  less  for 
design  and  symmetry — more  for  beauty  of  detail. 
The  Greek  essay  naturally  culminates  in  the  severe 
symmetry  of  the  Doric  Temple — the  Irish  in  the 
glorious  intricacy  of  the  illuminations  of  the  Book  of 
Kells. 

The  second  treasury  lately  excavated  by  Mrs. 
Schliemann  has  been  disappointing  in  its  results. 
Though  it  seems  not  to  have  been  disturbed  for 
ages,  it  had  evidently  been  once  rifled,  for  nothing 
save  a few  fragments  of  pottery  were  found  within. 
Its  entrance  is  much  loftier  than  that  of  the  house 
of  Atreus,  but  the  general  building  is  inferior,  the 
stones  are  far  smaller  and  by  no  means  so  well 
fitted,  and  it  produces  altogether  the  impression  of 
being  either  a much  earlier  and  ruder  attempt,  or  a 
poor  and  feeble  imitation.  Though  Dr.  Schliemann 
asserts  the  former,  I am  disposed  to  suspect  the 
latter  to  be  the  case. 

A great  deal  of  what  was  said  about  the  tomb  of 
Agamemnon,  as  the  common  people,  with  truer  in- 
stinct, call  the  supposed  treasure-house,  may  be  re- 
peated about  the  fortifications  of  Mycenae.  It  is  the 
work  of  builders  who  know  perfectly  how  to  deal 
with  their  materials — who  can  hew  and  fit  great 
blocks  of  stone  with  perfect  ease ; nay,  who  prefer, 
for  the  sake  of  massive  effect,  to  make  their  door- 
way with  such  enormous  blocks  as  even  modern 
science  would  find  it  difficult  to  handle.  The  sculpt- 


THE  LION  GATE. 


471 


ure  over  the  gate  fortunately  remains  almost  entire. 
The  two  lions,  standing  up  at  a small  pillar,  were 
looking  out  fiercely  at  the  stranger.  The  heads  are 
gone,  having  probably,  as  Dr.  Schliemann  first  ob- 
served, been  made  of  bronze,  and  riveted  to  the 
stone.  The  rest  of  the  sculpture  is  intact,  and  is 
of  a strangely  haraldic  character.  It  is  a piece  of 
bluish  limestone,1  which  must  have  been  brought 
from  a long  distance,  quite  different  from  the  rough 
breccia  of  the  rest  of  the  gate.  The  lintel-stone  is 
not  nearly  so  vast  as  that  of  the  treasure-house  : it 
is  only  fifteen  feet  long,  but  is  somewhat  thicker, 
and  also  much  deeper,  going  back  the  full  depth  of 
the  gateway.  Still  it  must  weigh  a good  many  tons $ 
and  it  puzzles  us  to  think  how  it  can  have  been  put 
into  its  place  with  the  appliances  then  in  vogue. 
The  joint  use  of  square  and  polygonal  masonry  is 
very  curious.  Standing  within  the  gate,  one  side  is 

1 There  Has  been  strange  diversity  of  opinion  about  the  nature 
of  this  stone.  Dodwell  and  Leake  call  it  basalt.  Moreover,  Dod- 
well  thought  it  greenish.  Some  one  else  thinks  it  yellowish.  The 
French  expedition  and  Curtius  call  it  limestone.  Dr.  Schliemann 
says  it  is  the  same  breccia  as  the  rest  of  the  gate.  It  is  in  the  face 
of  these  opinions  that  I persist  in  the  statement  that  it  is  bluish, 
and  limestone. 

It  is  owing  to  this  note  that  it  was  again  critically  examined  by 
Mr.  Tuckett,  who  published  his  result  in  the  Architect  of  19th 
January,  1879,  and  who  had  fragments  of  the  stone  analyzed, 
which  justified  my  observation.  He  also  notes  that  several  ob- 
servers erred  as  to  the  shape  of  the  central  pillar,  which  does  not 
diminish  in  bulk  downward. 


472 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


of  square-hewn  stones,  the  other  of  irregular,  though 
well-fitted,  blocks.  On  the  left  side,  looking  into  the 
gate,  there  is  a gap  of  one  block  in  the  wall,  which 
looks  very  like  a window,1  as  it  is  not  probable  that 
a single  stone  was  taken,  or  fell  out  of  its  place  after- 
ward, without  disturbing  the  rest.  What  makes  it, 
perhaps,  more  possible  that  this  window  is  inten- 
tional, is  the  position  of  the  gate,  which  is  not  in 
the  middle  of  the  walled  causeway,  as  you  enter, 
but  to  the  right  side. 

When  you  go  in,  and  climb  up  the  hill  of  the 
Acropolis,  you  find  various  other  portions  of  Cyclo- 
pean walls  which  belonged  to  the  old  palace,  in  plan 
very  similar  to  that  of  Tiryns.  But  the  outer  wall 
goes  all  round  the  hill  where  it  is  steepest,  sometimes 
right  along  a precipice,  and  everywhere  offering  an 
almost  insurmountable  obstacle  to  an  ancient  assail- 
ant. On  the  east  side,  facing  the  steep  mountain, 
which  is  separated  from  it  by  a deep  gorge,  is  a 
postern  gate,  consisting  merely  of  three  stones,  but 
these  so  massive,  and  so  beautifully  hewn  and  fitted, 
as  to  be  a structure  hardly  less  striking  than  the 
lion  gate.  At  about  half  the  depth  of  these  huge 
blocks  there  is  a regular  groove  cut  down  both  sides 
and  along  the  top,  in  order  to  hold  the  door. 

1 This,  I perceive,  is  Dr.  Schliemann’s  opinion  also.  He  was 
the  first  to  show  that  along  the  entrance- wall  the  fine  building  with 
square  blocks  was  only  a facing  laid  on  irregular  building  with 
small  stones.  This  points  clearly  to  two  successive  stages  in  the 
work. 


Lion  Gate,  Mycenae 


SCHLIEMANN’S  EXCAVATIONS. 


473 


The  whole  summit  of  the  great  rock  is  now  stony 
and  bare,  but  not  so  bare  that  I could  not  gather 
scarlet  anemones,  which  found  scanty  sustenance 
here  and  there  in  tiny  patches  of  grass,  and  glad- 
dened the  gray  color  of  the  native  rock  and  the 
primeval  walls.  The  view  from  the  summit,  when 
first  I saw  it,  was  one  of  singular  solitude  and  peace  ; 
not  a stone  seemed  to  have  been  disturbed  for  ages ; 
not  a human  creature,  or  even  a browsing  goat,  was 
visible,  and  the  traveller  might  sketch  or  scrutinize 
any  part  of  the  fortress  without  fear  of  intrusion,  far 
less  of  molestation.  When  I again  reached  the  site, 
in  the  spring  of  1877,  a great  change  had  taken 
place.  Dr.  Schliemann  had  attacked  the  ruins,  and 
had  made  his  world-renowned  excavations  inside 
and  about  the  lion  gate.  To  the  gate  itself  this 
was  a very  great  gain.  All  the  encumbering  earth 
and  stones  have  been  removed,  so  that  we  can  now 
admire  the  full  proportions  of  the  mighty  portal. 
He  discovered  a tiny  porter’s  lodge  inside  it.  He 
denied  the  existence  of  the  wheel-tracks  which  we 
and  others  fancied  we  had  seen  there  on  our  former 
visit. 

But  proceeding  from  the  gate  to  the  lower  side, 
where  the  hill  slopes  down  rapidly,  and  where  the 
great  irregular  Cyclopean  wall  trends  away  to  the 
right,  Dr.  Schliemann  found  a deep  accumulation 
of  soil.  This  was,  of  course,  the  chief  place  on  an 
otherwise  bare  rock  where  excavations  promised 


474 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


large  results.  And  the  result  was  beyond  the  wild- 
est anticipations.  The  whole  account  of  what  he 
has  done  is  long  before  the  public  in  his  very  splen- 
did book,  of  which  the  illustrations  are  quite  an 
epoch  in  the  history  of  ornament,  and  in  spite  of 
their  great  antiquity  will  suggest  to  our  modern 
jewellers  many  an  exquisite  pattern.  The  sum  of 
what  he  found  is  this : — 

He  first  found  in  this  area  a double  circuit  of  thin 
upright  slabs,  joined  together  closely,  and  joined 
across  the  top  with  flat  slabs  mortised  into  them,  the 
whole  circuit  being  like  a covered  way,  about  three 
feet  high.  Into  the  enclosed  circle  a way  leads 
from  the  lion  gate ; and  what  I noted  particularly 
was  this,  that  the  whole  circle,  which  was  over 
thirty  yards  in  diameter,  was  separated  from  the 
higher  ground  by  a very  miserable  bounding  wall, 
which,  though  quite  concealed  before  the  excava- 
tions, and  therefore  certainly  very  old,  looked  for 
all  the  world  like  some  Turkish  piece  of  masonry. 

As  soon  as  this  stone  circle  was  discovered,  it  was 
suggested  that  old  Greek  agoras  were  round,  that 
they  were  often  in  the  citadel  at  the  king’s  gate,  and 
that  people  were  sometimes  buried  in  them.  Dr. 
Schliemann  at  once  baptized  the  place  as  the  agora 
of  Myceme.  It  was  a circle  with  only  one  free 
access,  and  that  from  the  gate ; it  had  tombstones 
standing  in  the  midst  of  it,  and  there  were  the 
charred  remains  of  sacrifices  about  them.  The 


SCHLIEMANN’S  EXCAVATIONS. 


475 


number  of  bodies  already  exhumed  beneath  pre- 
clude their  being  all  founders  or  heroes  of  the  city. 
These  and  other  indications  were  enough  to  disprove 
clearly  that  the  circle  was  an  agora,  but  that  it  was 
rather  a place  of  sepulture,  enclosed,  as  such  places 
always  were,  with  a fence,  which  seems  made  in 
imitation  of  a palisade  of  wood. 

Inside  this  circuit  of  stone  slabs  were  found — 
apparently  at  the  same  depth,  but  on  this  Dr. 
Schliemann  is  not  explicit — very  curious  and  very 
archaic  carved  slabs,  with  rude  hunting  scenes  of 
warriors  in  very  uncomfortable  chariots,  and  varied 
spiral  ornaments  tilling  up  the  vacant  spaces.  These 
sculptures  are  unlike  any  Hellenic  work,  properly 
so  called,  and  point  back  to  a very  remote  period, 
and  probably  to  the  introduction  of  a foreign  art 
among  the  rude  inhabitants  of  early  Greece. 
Deeper  down  were  found  more  tombstones,  all 
manner  of  archaic  pottery,  arrow-heads,  and  but- 
tons of  bone ; there  was  also  found  some  rude  con- 
struction of  hewn  stones,  which  may  have  served  as 
an  altar  or  a tomb. 

Yet  further  down,  twenty-one  feet  deep,  and  close 
to  the  rock,  were  lying  together  a number  of  skel- 
etons, which  seemed  to  have  been  hastily  or  care- 
lessly buried ; but  in  the  rock  itself,  in  rudely  hewn 
chambers,  were  found  fifteen  bodies  buried  with  a 
splendor  seldom  equalled  in  the  history  of  the  world. 
These  people  were  not  buried  like  Greeks.  They 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


476 

were  not  laid  in  rock  chambers,  like  the  Scythian 
kings.  They  were  sunk  in  graves  under  the  earth, 
which  were  large  enough  to  receive  them,  had  tliey 
not  been  filled  up  round  the  bottom  with  rudely-built 
walls,  or  pieces  of  stone,  so  as  to  reduce  the  area, 
but  to  create  perhaps  some  ventilation  for  the  fire 
which  had  partly  burnt  the  bodies  where  they  were 
found.  Thus  the  splendidly-attired  and  jewelled 
corpses,  some  of  them  with  masks  and  breastplates 
of  gold,  were,  so  to  speak,  jammed  down  by  the 
earth  and  stones  above  them  into  a very  narrow 
space  ; but  there  appears  to  have  been  some  arrange- 
ment for  protecting  them  and  their  treasure  from 
complete  confusion  with  the  soil  which  settled  down 
over  them.  This,  if  the  account  of  the  excavation 
be  accurate,  seems  the  most  peculiar  feature  in  the 
burial  of  these  great  personages,  but  finds  a parallel 
in  the  curious  tombs  of  Hallstadt,  which  afford  many 
analogies  to  Mycenae.1 

Dr.  Schliemann  boldly  announced  in  the  Times, 
and  the  public  believed  him,  that  he  had  found  Aga- 
memnon, and  his  companions,  who  were  murdered 
when  they  returned  from  the  siege  of  Troy.  The 
burial  is  indeed  quite  different  from  any  such  cere- 
mony described  in  the  Homeric  poems.  The  num- 
ber of  fifteen  is  not  to  be  accounted  for  by  any  of 
the  legends.  There  is  no  reason  to  think  all  the 

1 These  analogies  are  brought  out  by  Mr.  A.  S.  Murray,  in  the 
Academy,  No.  29.  Cf.  also  Dorpfeld  in  Schuchhardl,  p.  161. 


THE  TOMBS. 


477 


tombs  have  been  discovered ; one,  or  at  least  part 
of  the  treasure  belonging  to  it,  was  since  found  out- 
side the  circle.  Another  was  afterward  found  by 
M.  Stamatakes.  iEschylus,  our  oldest  and  best 
authority,  places  the  tomb  of  Agamemnon,  not  at 
Mycenae,  but  at  Argos.  They  all  agree  that  he  was 
buried  with  contempt  and  dishonor.  The  result  was, 
that  when  the  public  came  to  hear  the  Agamemnon 
theory  disproved,  it  was  disposed  to  take  another 
leap  in  the  dark,  and  to  look  upon  the  whole  dis- 
covery as  suspicious,  and  as  possibly  something 
mediaeval. 

Such  an  inference  would  be  as  absurd  as  to  accept 
the  hypothesis  of  Dr.  Schliemann.  The  tombs  are 
undoubtedly  very  ancient,  certainly  far  more  ancient 
than  the  supposed  date  of  Homer,  or  even  of  Aga- 
memnon. The  treasures  which  have  been  carried 
to  Athens,  and  which  I saw  and  handled  at 
the  National  Bank,  are  not  only  really  valuable 
masses  of  gold,  but  have  a good  deal  of  beauty 
of  workmanship,  both  in  design  and  decoration. 
Though  the  masks  are  very  ugly  and  barbarous, 
and  though  there  is  in  general  no  power  shown  of 
moulding  any  animal  figure,  there  are  very  beautiful 
cups  and  jugs,  there  are  most  elegant  geometrical 
ornaments — zigzags,  spirals,  and  the  like — and  there 
are  even  imitations  of  animals  of  much  artistic 
merit.  The  celebrated  silver  bull’s  head,  with  golden 
horns,  is  a piece  of  work  which  would  not  disgrace 


478 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


a goldsmith  of  our  day  j and  this  may  be  said  of 
many  of  the  ornaments.  Any  one  who  knows  the 
Irish  gold  ornaments  in  the  Academy  Museum  in 
Dublin  perceives  a wonderful  family  likeness  in  the 
old  Irish  spirals  and  decorations,  yet  not  more  than 
might  occur  among  two  separate  nations  working 
with  the  same  materials  under  similar  conditions. 
But  I feel  convinced  that  the  best  things  in  the  tombs 
at  Mycenae  were  not  made  by  native  artists,  but  im- 
ported, probably  from  Syria  and  Egypt.  This  seems 
proved  even  by  the  various  materials  which  have 
been  employed — ivory,  alabaster,  amber ; in  one 
case  even  an  ostrich  egg.  So  we  shall,  perhaps,  in 
the  end  come  back  upon  the  despised  legends  of 
Cadmus  and  Danaus,  and  find  that  they  told  us  truly 
of  an  old  cultured  race  coming  from  the  South  and 
the  East  to  humanize  the  barbarous  progenitors  of 
the  Greeks. 

I can  now  add  important  corroborations  of  these 
general  conclusions  from  the  researches  made  since 
the  appearance  of  my  earlier  editions.  I then  said 
that  the  discoveries  were  too  fresh  and  dazzling  to 
admit  of  safe  theories  concerning  their  origin.  By 
way  of  illustration  I need  only  allude  to  those  sa- 
vants (they  will  hereafter  be  obliged  to  me  for  omit- 
ting their  names)  who  imagined  that  all  the  Myce- 
naean tombs  were  not  archaic  at  all,  but  the  work  of 
northern  barbarians  who  occupied  Greece  during  the 
disasters  of  the  later  Roman  Empire  ! Serious  re- 


ART  IN  THE  TOMBS. 


479 


searches,  however,  have  at  last  brought  us  consider- 
able light.  In  the  first  place  Helbig,  in  an  important 
work  comparing  the  treasures  of  Mycenae  with  the 
allusions  to  art,  arms,  and  manufactures  in  the  Ho- 
meric poems,  came  to  the  negative  conclusion  that 
these  two  civilizations  were  distinct— that  the  Ho- 
meric poets  cannot  have  had  before  them  the  palace 
of  Mycenae  which  owned  the  Schliemann  treasures. 
As  there  is  no  room  in  Greek  history  for  such  a 
civilization  posterior  to  the  Homeric  poems,  it  fol- 
lows that  the  latter  must  describe  a civilization  con- 
siderably later  than  that  we  have  found  at  Mycenae. 
Placing  the  Homeric  poems  in  the  eighth  century 
B.  c.  we  shall  be  led  to  about  1000  b.  c.  as  the  latest 
possible  date  for  the  splendors  of  Mycenae.  But 
this  negative  conclusion  has  been  well-nigh  demon- 
strated by  the  positive  results  of  the  various  recent 
researches  in  Egypt.  Not  only  has  the  Egypt  Ex- 
ploration Society  examined  carefully  the  sites  of 
Naucratis  and  Daphne,  thus  disclosing  to  us  what 
Greek  art  and  manufacture  could  produce  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  centuries  b.  c.  (665-565  B.  c.), 
but  Mr.  Flinders  Petrie  has  enriched  our  knowledge 
by  his  wonderful  discoveries  of  Egyptian  art  on 
several  sites,  and  of  many  epochs,  fairly  determin- 
able by  the  reigning  dynasties.  He  has  recently 
(1890)  examined  the  Mycenaean  and  other  pre-his- 
toric  treasures  collected  at  Athens,  by  the  light  of 
his  rich  Egyptian  experience,  and  has  given  a sum- 


480 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


mary  of  the  results  in  two  short  articles  in  the 
Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies. 

He  finds  that  the  materials  and  their  treatment, 
such  as  blue  glass,  even  in  its  decomposition,  ala- 
baster, rock-crystal,  hollowed  and  painted  within, 
dome-head  rivets  attaching  handles  of  gold  cups, 
ostrich  eggs  with  handles  attached,  ties  made  for 
ornament  in  porcelain,  are  all  to  be  found  in  Egyp- 
tian tombs  varying  from  1400  to  1100  in  date.  His 
analysis  leads  him  to  give  the  dates  for  the  tombs 
I. -IV.  at  Mycenae  as  1200-1100  b.  c.  That  an 
earlier  date  is  improbable  is  shown  by  the  negative 
evidence  that  none  of  the  purely  geometrical  false- 
necked vases  occur,  such  as  are  the  general  product 
of  1400-1200  in  Egyptian  deposits.  But  as  several 
isolated  articles  are  of  older  types,  as  in  particular 
the  lions  over  the  gate  are  quite  similar  to  a gilt 
wooden  lion  he  found  of  about  1450  B.  c.  in  date, 
the  Mycenaean  civilization  probably  extended  over  a 
considerable  period.  He  even  finds  proof  of  de- 
cadence in  grave  IV.  as  compared  with  the  rest,  and 
so  comes  to  the  conclusion,  which  I am  disposed  to 
question,  that  the  tombs  within  the  circle  at  Mycenae 
(shaft-tombs)  are  later  and  worse  interments  made 
by  the  same  people  who  had  already  built  the  more 
majestic  and  costly  bee-hive  tombs.  Instead  there- 
fore of  upholding  a Phrygian  origin,  Mr.  Petrie 
asserts  an  Egyptian  origin  for  both  Mycenaean  and 
parallel  Phrygian  designs.  The  spiral  pattern  in  its 


ART  IN  THE  TOMBS. 


481 


various  forms,  the  rosettes,  the  keyfret,  the  palmetto, 
are  all  used  in  very  early  Egyptian  decoration. 
The  inlaid  daggers  of  Mycenae  have  long  been  rec- 
ognized as  inspired  by  Egypt  j u but  we  must  note 
that  it  is  native  work  and  not  merely  an  imported 
article.  The  attitude  of  the  figures  and  of  the  lions, 
and  the  form  of  the  cat,  are  such  as  no  Egyptian 
would  have  executed.  To  make  such  things  in 
Greece  implies  a far  higher  culture  than  merely  to 
import  them.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the 
glazed  pottery ; the  style  of  some  is  not  Egyptian, 
so  that  here  the  Mycenaeans  were  capable  of  elab- 
orate technical  work,  and  imitated,  rather  than 
imported  from  Egypt.  . . . The  familiarity  with 
Egypt  is  further  proved  by  the  lotus  pattern  on  the 
dagger-blade,  by  the  cat  on  the  dagger,  and  the  cats 
on  the  gold  foil  ornaments,  since  the  cat  was  then 
unknown  in  Greece.  That  the  general  range  of  the 
civilization  was  that  of  Africa,  is  indicated  by  the 
frequent  use  of  the  palm  (not  then  known  in  Greece) 
as  a decoration,  and  by  the  very  scanty  clothing  of 
the  male  figures,  indicating  that  dress  was  not  a 
necessity  of  climate.  On  the  other  hand  this  cult- 
ure reached  out  to  the  north  of  Europe.  The  silver- 
headed reindeer  or  elk,  found  in  grave  IV.,  can  only 
be  the  result  of  northern  intercourse.  The  amber 
so  commonly  used  comes  from  the  Baltic.  And  we 
see  in  Celtic  ornament  the  obvious  reproduction  of 
the  decorations  of  Mycense,  as  Mr.  Arthur  Evans 

31 


482 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


has  shown.  Not  only  is  the  spiral  decoration  indis- 
tinguishable/ but  also  the  taste  for  elaborately  em- 
bossed diadems  and  breastplates  of  gold  is  peculiar 
to  the  Mycenaean  and  Celtic  cultures.  The  great 
period  of  Mycenae  seems  therefore  to  date  1300- 
1100  B.  C.,  with  occasional  traditional  links  with 
Egypt  as  far  back  as  1500  or  1600  B.  c. 

Such  is  an  abstract  of  Mr.  Petrie’s  estimate.1 2 

I will  only  here  point  out,  in  addition,  the  re- 
markable unity  of  style  between  the  ornaments 
found  at  a depth  of  twenty-five  feet  in  the  tombs, 
the  sculptured  tombstones  twelve  or  fourteen  feet 
over  them,  and  the  lions  on  the  gate  of  the  citadel. 
It  is,  indeed,  only  a general  uniformity,  but  it  cor- 
roborates Mr.  Petrie’s  inference  that  there  was  more 
than  mere  importing ; there  was  home  manufacture. 
But  still  among  the  small  gold  ornaments  in  the 
tombs  were  found  several  pairs  of  animals  placed 
opposite  each  other  in  this  strictly  heraldic  fashion, 
and  even  on  the  engraved  gems  this  symmetry  is 
curiously  frequent.  It  seems,  then,  that  the  art  of 
Mycenae  had  not  changed  when  its  early  history 
came  to  a close,  and  its  inhabitants  were  forced  to 


1 This  is  not  true  of  Irish  designs,  which  I compared  carefully 
with  the  Mycenaean,  and  failed  to  find  any  identity,  though  many 
close  resemblances. 

2 It  agrees  with  that  of  Schuchhardt  (in  Schliemann’s  Excava- 
tions, 1891),  and  of  Busolt  in  the  new  edition  of  his  Greek  history, 
1892. 


EARLY  RUIN  OF  MYCENAE. 


483 


abandon  the  fortress  and  submit  to  the  now  Doric 
Argos. 

We  are,  indeed,  told  expressly  by  Pausanias  and 
Diodorus  that  this  event  did  not  take  place  till  after 
the  Persian  wars,  when  old  Hellenic  art  was  already 
well  defined,  and  was  beginning  to  make  rapid  prog- 
ress. But  this  express  statement,  which  I saw 
reason  to  question  since  my  former  remarks  on  the 
subject  in  this  book,  I am  now  determined  to  reject, 
in  the  face  of  the  inconsistencies  of  these  historians, 
the  silence  of  all  the  contemporaries  of  the  alleged 
conquest,  and  the  exclusively  archaic  remains  which 
Dr.  Schliemann  has  unearthed.  Mycenae,  along 
with  Tiryns,  Midea,  and  the  other  towns  of  the 
plain,  was  incorporated  into  Argos  at  a far  earlier 
date,  and  not  posterior  to  the  brilliant  rule  of  Phei- 
don.  So  it  comes  that  historical  Greece  is  silent 
about  the  ancient  capital  of  the  Pelopids,  and  the 
poets  transfer  all  its  glories  to  Argos.  Once,  indeed, 
the  name  did  appear  on  the  national  records.  The 
offerings  to  the  gods  at  Olympia,  and  at  Delphi, 
after  the  victory  over  the  Persians,  recorded  that  a 
few  patriots — 460  in  all — from  Mycenae  and  from 
Tiryns  had  joined  the  Greeks  at  Plataea,  while  the 
remainder  of  the  Argives  preserved  a base  and  cow- 
ardly neutrality.  The  Mycenaeans  were  very  few  in 
number ; sixty  are  mentioned  in  connection  with 
Thermopylae  by  Herodotus.  They  were  probably 
exiles  through  Greece,  who  had  preserved  their 


484 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


traditions  and  their  descent,  and  gloried  in  exposing 
and  insulting  Argive  Medism.  The  Tirynthian  400 
may  even  have  been  the  remnant  of  the  slave  popu- 
lation, which  Herodotus  tells  us  seized  the  citadel 
of  Tiryns,  when  driven  out  from  Argos  twenty 
years  before,  and  who  lived  there  for  some  years. 
In  the  crisis  of  Plataea  the  Greeks  were  not  dainty 
or  critical,  and  they  may  have  readily  conceded  the 
title  of  Tirynthian  to  these  doubtful  citizens,  out  of 
hatred  and  disgust  at  the  neutrality  of  Argos.  How- 
ever these  things  may  be,  the  mention  of  Myce- 
nseans  and  Tirynthians  on  this  solitary  occasion 
afforded  an  obvious  warrant  to  Diodorus  for  his 
date  of  the  destruction  of  Mycenae.  But  I am 
convinced  that  his  authority,  and  that  of  Pausan- 
ias,  who  follows  him,  must  be  deliberately  rejected. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  origin  of  Mycenae,  and  its 
greatness  as  a royal  residence,  must  be  thrown  back 
into  a far  deeper  antiquity  than  any  one  had  yet 
imagined.  If  Agamemnon  and  his  house  represent 
Hellenic  princes,  of  the  type  of  Homer’s  knowledge 
and  acquaintance,  they  must  have  arisen  after  some 
older,  and  apparently  different  dynasties  had  ruled 
and  had  buried  their  dead  at  Mycenae.1  But  it  is 
also  possible  that  the  Homeric  bards,  describing 
professedly  the  acts  of  a past  age,  imposed  their 

1 This  theory  of  mine,  stated  in  my  first  edition,  is  strongly 
supported  by  Dr.  Adler  in  his  preface  to  Schliemann’s  Tiryns 
(1885). 


EARLY  RUIN  OF  MYCENAE. 


485 


new  manners,  and  their  own  culture,  upon  the 
Pelopids,  whom  they  only  knew  by  vague  tradi- 
tion, and  that  thus  their  drawing  is  false ; while  the 
chiefs  they  glorify  were  the  ancient  pre-Hellenic 
rulers  of  the  country.  This  latter  supposition  is  so 
shocking  a heresy  against  u Homer  v that  I will  not 
venture  to  expand  it,  and  will  leave  the  reader  to 
add  any  conjectures  he  chooses  to  those  which  I have 
already  hazarded  in  too  great  number. 

When  the  splendid  findings  of  Dr.  Schliemann 
are  taken  out  of  their  bandboxes  in  the  Bank  of 
Athens,  and  arranged  in  the  National  Museum;1 
when  the  diligence  of  Greek  archaeologists  investi- 
gates thoroughly  the  remainder  of  the  site  at  My- 
cenae, which  is  not  nearly  exhausted ; when  new 
accidents  (such  as  the  discoveries  at  Sparta  and 
Yaphio)  and  new  researches  enlarge  these  treasures 
perhaps  a thousand-fold,  there  will  be  formed  at 
Athens  a museum  of  pre-historic  art  which  will  not 
have  its  equal  in  the  world  (except  at  Cairo),  and 
which  will  introduce  us  to  an  epoch  of  culture  which 
we  hardly  yet  suspected,  when  writing  and  coinage 
were  unknown,  when  the  Greeks  had  not  reached 
unto  their  name,  or  possibly  their  language,  but 
when,  nevertheless,  considerable  commerce  existed, 
when  wonderful  skill  had  already  been  attained  in 

1 This  has  all  been  done,  and  alas  ! many  of  the  gold  cups  have 
been  polished  by  the  barbarous  zeal  of  the  curators,  so  destroying 
the  exquisite  red  bloom  which  made  them  so  remarkable. 


486 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


arts  and  manufactures,  and  when  men  had  even 
accumulated  considerable  wealth  and  splendor  in 
well-established  centres  of  power. 

The  further  investigation  of  the  remains  of  My- 
cenae, with  the  additional  evidence  derived  from  the 
ruins  of  Tiryns,  presently  to  be  described,  have  led 
Dr.  Adler  to  explain  Mycenae  as  the  record  of  a 
double  foundation,  first  by  a race  who  built  rubble 
masonry,  and  buried  their  dead  in  narrow  rock- 
tombs  or  graves,  piling  on  the  bodies  their  arms  and 
ornaments ; secondly,  after  some  considerable  inter- 
val, by  a race  who  built  splendid  ashlar  masonry, 
with  well-cut  blocks,  and  who  constructed  great 
beehive  tombs,  where  the  dead  could  lie  with  ample 
room  in  royal  state.  The  second  race  enlarged, 
rebuilt,  and  refaced  the  old  fortifications,  added  the 
present  lion  gate,  and  built  the  so-called  treasure- 
houses.  For  convenience’  sake  he  calls  them,  ac- 
cording to  the  old  legends,  Perseids  and  Pelopids 
respectively.  Hence  the  tombs  which  Dr.  Schlie- 
mann  found  were  really  far  older  than  any  one  had 
at  first  supposed,  and  if  the  record  of  Homer  points 
distinctly  to  the  Pelopids,  then  the  gold  and  jewels 
of  a far  earlier  people  were  hidden  deep  under- 
ground in  the  foundation  of  Agamemnon’s  fortress, 
merely  marked  by  a sacred  circle  of  stones  and  some 
archaic  gravestones. 

To  which  of  these  stages  of  building  do  the  ruins 
of  Tiryns  belong  ? Apparently  to  the  earlier,  though 


THE  PALACE  OF  T1RYNS. 


487 


here,  again,  the  size  of  the  stones  used  is  far  greater 
than  those  in  the  first  Mycenae,  and  it  is  now  certain 
that  the  beginnings  of  artificial  shaping  are  discern- 
ible in  them.  Since  the  second  edition  of  this  book 
the  walls  have  been  uncovered  and  examined  by 
Dr.  Schliemann,  with  the  valuable  advice  and  assist- 
ance of  Dr.  Dorpfeld,  so  that  I may  conclude  this 
chapter  with  a brief  summary  of  the  results  they 
have  attained. 

The  upper  part  of  the  rock  of  Tiryns,  which  con- 
sisted of  two  plateaus  or  levels,  was  known  to  con- 
tain remains  of  building  by  the  shafts  which  Dr. 
Schliemann  had  already  sunk  there  in  former  years. 
But  now  a very  different  method  of  excavating  was 
adopted — that  of  uncovering  the  surface  in  layers, 
so  that  successive  strata  of  debris  might  be  clearly 
distinguished.  This  exceedingly  slow  and  laborious 
process,  which  I saw  going  on  for  days  at  Tiryns 
with  very  little  result,  brought  out  in  the  end  the 
whole  plan  of  a palace,  with  its  gates,  floors,  parting 
walls,  and  pillar  bases,  so  that  in  the  admirable 
drawing  to  be  seen  in  the  book  called  Tiryns , Dr. 
Dorpfeld  has  given  us  the  first  clear  view  of  an  old 
Greek,  or  perhaps  even  pre-Hellenic,  palace.  The 
partial  agreement  with  the  plan  of  the  palaces  of 
Troy,  and  of  Mycenae,  since  discovered,  and  the 
adoption  in  Hellenic  temples  of  the  plan  of  entrance, 
here  several  times  repeated — two  pillars  between 


488 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


antse — show  that  the  palace  at  Tiryns  was  not  ex- 
ceptional, but  typical. 

All  the  gates  leading  up  into  this  palace  are  still 
distinctly  marked  by  the  threshold  or  door-sill,  a 
great  stone,  lying  in  its  place,  with  grooves  inserted 
for  the  pivots  of  the  doors,  which  were  of  wood,  but 
had  their  pivots  shod  with  bronze,  as  was  proved  by 
the  actual  remains.  These  doors  divided  a double 
porch,  entered  either  way  between  two  pillars  of 
wood,  standing  upon  stone  bases  still  in  their  place, 
and  flanked  by  antse,  which  were  below  of  stone 
and  above  of  wood  dowelled  into  the  stone  piers. 
All  the  upper  structure  of  the  gates,  and,  indeed,  of 
all  the  palace,  seems  to  have  been  of  wood.  There 
are  clear  signs  of  a great  conflagration,  in  which 
the  palace  perished.  This  implies  the  existence 
of  ample  fuel,  and  while  the  ashes,  mud-bricks,  etc., 
remain,  no  trace  of  architrave,  or  pillar,  or  roof  has 
been  found.  There  are  gates  of  similar  design  lead- 
ing into  the  courts  and  principal  chamber  of  the 
palace,  the  floors  of  which  are  covered  with  a care- 
ful lime  concrete  marked  with  line  patterns,  and  so 
sloped  as  to  afford  easy  drainage  into  a vent  leading 
to  pipes  of  terra  cotta,  which  carried  off  water.  The 
same  careful  arrangements  are  observed  in  the  bath- 
room, with  a floor  of  one  great  stone,  twelve  feet  by 
nine,  which  is  likewise  pierced  to  carry  off  water. 
The  remains  of  a terra  cotta  tub  were  found  there, 
and  the  walls  of  the  room  were  panelled  with  wood, 


THE  PALACE  OF  TIRYNS. 


489 


set  into  the  raised  edge  of  the  floor-stone  by  dowels 
sunk  in  the  stone.  No  recent  discovery  is  more 
interesting  than  this. 

Of  the  walls  little  remains  but  the  foundations, 
and  here  and  there  a couple  of  feet  of  mud-bricks, 
with  signs  of  beams  let  into  them,  which  added  to 
the  conflagration.  But  enough  remains  to  show 
that  the  walls  of  the  better  rooms  were  richly  cov- 
ered with  ornament.  There  is  a fresco  of  a bull 
still  preserved,  and  reproduced  in  Dr.  Schliemann’s 
book ; and  there  was  also  found  a very  remarkable 
frieze  ornament  in  rosettes  and  brooch  patterns, 
made  of  blue  glass  paste  (supposed  to  be  Homer’s 
xu avoq)  and  alabaster.  This  valuable  relic  shows 
remarkable  analogies  in  design  to  other  prehistoric 
ornaments  found  in  Greece. 

The  size  of  the  main  hall,  or  men’s  apartment,  is 
very  large,  the  floor  covering  about  120  square 
yards,  and  the  parallel  room  in  the  palace  at  Troy 
was  consequently  taken  to  be  the  cella  of  a temple. 
But  there  seems  no  doubt  that  the  great  room  at 
Tiryns,  with  a hearth  in  the  middle  and  four  pillar 
bases  near  it,  supporting,  perhaps,  a higher  roof, 
with  a clerestory,  was  the  main  reception  room  of 
the  palace ; a smaller  room  of  similar  construction, 
not  connected  with  the  former,  save  by  a circuitous 
route  through  passages,  seems  to  have  been  the 
ladies’  drawing-room. 


490 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


If  I were  to  attempt  any  full  description  of  this 
wonderful  place  I should  be  obliged  to  copy  out  a 
great  part  of  the  fifth  chapter  in  Dr.  Schliemann’s 
book,  in  which  Dr.  Dorpfeld  has  set  down  very 
modestly,  but  very  completely,  the  results  of  his 
own  acuteness  and  research.  Many  things  which 
are  now  plain  enough  were  perfect  riddles  till  he 
found  the  true  solution,  and  the  acuteness  with 
which  he  has  utilized  the  smallest  hints,  as  well 
as  the  caution  of  his  conclusions,  make  this  work 
of  his  a very  model  of  scientific  induction. 

He  says,  rightly  enough,  that  a minute  description 
is  necessary,  because  a very  few  years  will  cover  up 
much  of  the  evidence  which  he  had  plainly  before 
him.  The  concrete  floors,  the  remains  of  mud-brick 
walls,  the  plan  of  the  various  rooms,  will  be  choked 
up  with  grass  and  weeds,  unless  they  are  kept 
covered  and  cleared.  The  rain,  which  has  long 
since  washed  all  traces  of  mortar  out  of  the  walls, 
will  wash  away  far  more  now  that  the  site  is  opened, 
and  so  the  future  archaeologist  will  find  that  the  book 
Tiryns  will  tell  him  much  that  the  actual  Tiryns  can- 
not show  him. 

The  lower  platform  on  the  rock  is  not  yet  touched, 
and  here  perhaps  digging  will  discover  to  us  the 
remains  of  a temple,  from  which  one  very  archaic 
Doric  capital  and  an  antefix  have  found  their  way  to 
the  higher  rock.  There  are  traces,  too,  of  the  great 


DR.  DORPFELD’S  WORK. 


491 


fort  being  the  second  building  on  the  site,  oyer  an 
older  and  not  yet  clearly  determined  palace. 

Two  things  are  plain  from  these  discoveries,  and 
I dwell  on  them  with  satisfaction,  because  they  cor- 
roborate old  opinions  of  mine,  put  forth  long  before 
the  principal  evidence  was  forthcoming.  First,  the 
general  use  of  wood  for  pillars  and  architraves,  so 
showing  how  naturally  the  stone  temple  imitated  the 
older  wooden  buildings.  Secondly,  the  archaic  or 
ante-Hellenic  character  of  all  that  was  found  at 
Tiryns,  with  the  solitary  exception  of  the  archi- 
tectural fragments,  which  certainly  have  no  build- 
ing to  correspond  to  them  where  they  were  found. 
Thus  my  hypothesis,  which  holds  that  Tiryns,  as 
well  as  Mycense,  was  destroyed  at  least  as  early  as 
Pheidon?s  time  (660  B.  c.),  and  not  after  the  Persian 
wars,  receives  corroboration  which  will  amount  to 
positive  proof  in  any  mind  open  to  evidence  on  the 
point. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 

When  I first  went  to  Greece,  nearly  twenty  years 
ago,  the  few  travellers  one  met  in  the  country  never 
thought  of  studying  its  mediaeval  remains.  We 
were  in  search  of  classical  art,  we  passed  by  Byzan- 
tine churches  or  Frankish  towers  with  contemptuous 
ignorance.  Mr.  Finlay’s  great  book,  indeed,  was 
already  written  ; but  those  who  knew  German  and 
were  bold  enough  to  attack  the  eight  volumes  which 
Ersch  and  Gruber’s  Encyclopedia  devote  to  the 
article  on  Greece,  had  been  taught  by  Hopf’s  Essay 
on  Medieval  Greece  to  fathom  what  depths  dulness 
could  attain.  Whether  the  author,  or  the  odious 
paper,  and  type  in  its  double  columns,  contributed 
to  this  result,  was  of  little  consequence.  The  sub- 
ject itself  seemed  dreary  beyond  description.  All 
the  various  peoples  who  invaded,  swayed,  ravaged, 
colonized  the  country  in  the  Dark  Ages,  seemed 
but  undistinguishable  hordes  of  barbarians,  of 
whom  we  knew  nothing,  about  whom  we  cared 
nothing,  beyond  a general  hatred  of  them,  as  those 
who  had  broken  up  and  destroyed  the  splendid 
temples  and  fair  statues  that  are  now  the  world’s 
desire.  Even  the  very  thorough  and  learned 

492 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


493 


scholars,  who  produced  Bcedeker's  Greece , a very 
few  years  ago,  never  thought  of  putting  in  any 
information  whatever,  beyond  their  chronological 
table,  upon  the  many  centuries  which  intervened 
between  the  close  of  paganism  and  the  recent  re- 
generation of  the  country.  The  contempt  for  Byz- 
antine work  in  the  East  was  in  our  early  days  like 
the  contempt  of  Renaissance  work  in  the  West. 
We  were  all  Classical  or  Gothic  in  taste. 

Now  a great  reaction  is  setting  in.  Instead  of  the 
dreadful  Hopf,  we  have  the  fascinating  Gregorovius, 
whose  Mediceval  Athens  clothes  even  dry  details  with 
the  hue  of  fancy ; the  sober  Murray's  Guide  includes 
Mt.  Athos  and  its  wonders  as  part  of  its  task. 
Recent  travellers,  and  the  students  at  the  Foreign 
Schools  of  Athens,  tell  us  of  curious  churches  and 
their  frescoes,  and  now  Mr.  Schultz,  of  the  British 
school,  has  undertaken  to  reproduce  them  with  his 
pencil.  Following  the  example  of  Pullen,  whose 
pictures  have  secured  for  posterity  some  record  of 
the  churches  of  Salonica,  so  often  threatened  by  fire, 
he  will  perpetuate  the  remnants  of  an  architecture 
and  an  art  which  were  rapidly  perishing  from 
neglect.  When  I was  first  at  Athens  men  were 
seriously  discussing  the  propriety  of  razing  to  the 
ground  the  most  striking  of  all  the  Byzantine 
churches  at  Athens,  because  it  stood  in  the  thor- 
oughfare which  led  from  the  palace  to  the  railway 
station  ! Historians  tell  us  the  dreadful  fact,  that 


494 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


over  seventy  of  these  delicately  quaint  buildings 
were  destroyed  when  the  new  cathedral,  a vulgar 
and  senseless  compromise  in  style,  was  constructed. 
A few  more  years  of  Vandalism  in  Greece,  a few 
more  terrible  fires  at  Salonica  and  at  Athos,  and  the 
world  had  lost  its  best  records  of  a very  curious  and 
distinctive  civilization. 

There  are  indeed  no  mean  traces  of  this  art  in 
Adriatic  Italy ; the  exarchate  at  Ravenna,  the  east- 
ern traffic  of  Venice,  have  shown  their  influence  on 
Italian  art  and  architecture.  The  splendid  mosaics 
of  Ravenna,  nay,  even  the  seven  domes  of  S. 
Antonio  at  Verona,  the  frescoes  of  the  Giotto 
Chapel  at  Padua,  above  all,  the  great  cathedral  at 
Venice,  are  all  strongly  colored — those  of  Ravenna 
even  produced — by  Byzantine  art.  Yet  most  travel- 
lers who  visit  S.  Mark’s  at  Venice  have  never  seen 
a Byzantine  church,  and  do  not  feel  its  Eastern 
parentage  ; still  fewer  visit  the  splendid  basilica  of 
Parenzo,  which  is  a still  more  unmistakable  exam- 
ple. But  to  those  who  have  turned  aside  from 
Olympia  and  Parthenon  to  study  the  early  Christian 
remains  in  Greece,  all  this  art  of  Eastern  Italy  will 
acquire  a new  interest  and  a deeper  meaning. 

These  are  the  reasons  which  have  tempted  me  to 
say  a few  words  on  this  side  of  Greek  travel.  I do 
not  pretend  to  speak  as  an  authority  ; I only  desire 
to  stimulate  a nascent  interest  which  will  presently 
make  what  I say  seem  simple  and  antiquated.  But 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


495 


as  yet  even  high  authorities  are  very  much  in  the 
dark  about  these  things.  What  would  a student  of 
Gothic  architecture  say  to  a discussion  whether  an 
extant  building  belonged  to  the  fourth  century  or 
the  eleventh  ? and  yet  such  divergent  views  are  still 
maintained  concerning  the  origin  of  the  Athenian 
churches. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  best  and  quaintest,  the  so- 
called  Old  Cathedral , which  was  fortunately  allowed  to 
stand  beside  its  ugly  and  pretentious  successor.  The 
first  thing  which  strikes  us  is  the  exceeding  smallness 
of  the  dimensions,  it  is  like  one  of  the  little  chapels 
you  find  in  Glendalough  and  elsewhere  in  Ireland. 
I do  not  know  whether  the  Greeks  contemplated  a 
congregation  kneeling  in  the  open  air,  as  was  the 
case  around  these  chapels  in  Ireland,  but  such  edi- 
fices were  certainly  intended  in  the  first  instance  as 
holy  places  for  sacerdotal  celebrations,  not  as  houses 
of  prayer  for  the  people.  I was  told  on  Mt.  Athos 
that  it  was  not  the  practice  of  the  Greek  church  to 
celebrate  more  than  one  service  in  any  one  Church 
daily.  Hence  the  monks,  who  are  making  prayer 
continually,  have  twenty  or  thirty  chapels  within 
the  precincts  of  each  monastery.  Perhaps  a similar 
motive  may  have  led  to  the  construction  of  a great 
number  of  smaller  churches  at  Athens,  where 
seventy  have  already  been  destroyed,  and  at 
Salonica,  where  remains  of  them  are  still  being 
frequently  discovered.  Perhaps,  also,  that  desire 


496 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


to  consecrate  to  the  religion  of  Christ  the  hallowed 
places  of  the  heathen,  which  turned  the  Parthenon 
and  the  temple  of  Theseus  into  churches,  also 
prompted  the  Byzantine  bishops  to  set  up  chapels 
upon  smaller  heathen  sanctuaries,  where  no  stately 
temple  existed,  and  mere  consecration  would  have 
left  no  patent  symbol  of  Christian  occupation. 

But  if  this  Cathedral  is  small,  it  has  the  proper 
beauty  of  minute  art ; it  is  covered  with  rich 
decoration.  All  its  surfaces  show  carved  fragments 
not  only  of  classical,  but  of  earlier  Byzantine  work 
— friezes,  reliefs,  inscriptions,  capitals — all  so  dis- 
posed with  a general  correspondence  or  symmetry 
as  to  produce  the  effect  of  a real  design.  Moreover, 
this  foreign  ornament  is  set  in  a building  strictly 
Byzantine  in  form,  with  its  rich  doorway,  its  tiny 
windows  with  their  high  semicircular  arches  supported 
on  delicate  capitals,  and  toned  by  the  centuries  of 
Attic  dust  to  that  rich  gold  brown  which  has  turned 
the  Parthenon  from  marble  almost  to  ruddy  gold. 
Never  was  there  greater  harmony  and  unity  attained 
by  the  most  deliberate  patch-work.  In  the  earlier 
works  on  Byzantine  art,  this  church  was  confidently 
assigned  to  the  sixth  century.  Buchon  found  upon 
it  the  arms  of  La  Roche  and  of  Villehardouin,  so 
that  he  assigned  it  to  the  thirteenth.  The  character 
of  the  other  buildings  of  these  knights  makes  me 
doubt  that  they  and  their  friends  could  have  con- 
structed such  a church — the  Western  monks  then 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


497 


built  Latin  churches  in  Greece — and  I suppose  that 
the  arms,  which  I could  not  find,  were  only  carved 
by  the  Franks  upon  the  existing  building.  But  I will 
not  therefore  subscribe  to  the  sixth-century  theory. 

Of  the  remaining  churches  three  only,  the  Kapni- 
karea,  the  Virgin  of  the  Monastery,  and  S.  Theo- 
dore, are  worth  studying,  as  specimens  of  the  typical 
form  of  such  buildings.  The  main  plan  is  a square, 
surmounted  by  a cupola  supported  on  four  pillars, 
with  a corridor  or  porch  on  the  West  side,  and  three 
polygonal  apses  on  the  East.  Lesser  cupolas  often 
surround  the  central  dome.  The  height  and  slender- 
ness of  this  central  dome  is  probably  the  clearest 
sign  of  comparative  lateness  in  these  buildings, 
which  used  to  be  attributed  to  the  fourth  and  fifth 
centuries,  but  are  now  degraded  to  the  eleventh. 
The  earliest  form  is  no  doubt  that  of  the  massive 
S.  George’s  at  Salonica — a huge  Rotunda  covered 
with  a flat  dome,  not  unlike  the  Pantheon  at  Rome, 
with  nothing  but  richly  ornamented  niches,  and  a 
splendid  mosaic  ceiling  in  the  dome,  to  give  relief  to 
a very  plain  design.  The  successive  complications 
and  refinements  added  to  this  simple  structure  may 
be  studied  even  in  the  later  churches  of  Salonica. 

The  traveller  who  has  whetted  his  taste  for  this 
peculiar  form  of  mediaeval  art,  and  desires  to  study 
it  further,  will  find  within  reach  of  Athens  two 
monasteries  well  worth  a visit,  that  of  the  Phaene- 
romene  on  Salamis,  a very  fair  specimen  of  an  un- 
32 


498 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


disturbed  Greek  monastery,  and  that  of  Daphne, 
which  may  be  ranked  with  the  ruins  of  Mistra  as 
showing  clear  traces  of  the  conflict  of  East  and 
West,  of  Latin  with  Greek  Christianity.  This 
sanctuary,  with  its  now  decaying  walls,  succeeded 
as  usual  to  a pagan  shrine  with  hardly  altered  name. 
The  Saints,  still  pictured  in  black  and  gold  upon  the 
walls,  and  worshipped  upon  their  festivals,  have 
become  fantastic  and  unreal  beings,  well  enough 
adapted  to  that  mixture  of  superstition  and  national- 
ism which  is  the  body  of  the  Greek  religion,  and, 
despite  a purer  creed,  not  very  far  removed  from  the 
religious  instincts  of  the  old  Hellenic  race.  Five 
or  six  wretched  monks  still  occupy  the  dilapidated 
building,  vegetating  in  sleepy  idleness  j they  do 
nothing  but  repeat  daily  their  accustomed  prayers, 
and  receive  dues  for  allowing  the  people  of  the 
neighboring  hamlets  to  kiss,  once  or  twice  a year, 
a dreadful-looking  S.  Elias,  painted  olive-brown  on  a 
gold  background,  or  to  light  the  nightly  lamp  at  the 
wayside  shrine  of  a saint  black  with  smoke. 

The  structure  as  we  now  see  it  is  chiefly  the  work 
of  the  Cistercians  who  accompanied  Otho  de  la 
Roche  from  Champagne  to  his  dukedom  of  Athens, 
and  was  established  round  a far  older  Byzantine 
church  and  monastery.  Like  all  mediaeval  con- 
vents, it  is  fortified,  and  the  whole  settlement,  courts 
and  gardens  included,  is  surrounded  by  a crenelated 
wall,  originally  about  thirty  feet  high. 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


499 


There  are  occasional  towers  in  the  wall,  and 
remains  of  arches  supporting  a passage  of  sufficient 
altitude  for  the  defenders  to  look  over  the  battle- 
ments. The  old  church  in  the  centre  of  the  court 
has  had  a narthex  or  nave  added  in  Gothic  style  by 
the  Benedictines,  and  here  again  are  battlements, 
from  which  the  monks  could  send  down  stones  or 
boiling  liquid  upon  assailants  who  penetrated  the 
outer  walls.  Three  sides  of  the  court  are  surrounded 
by  buildings ; beneath,  there  are  massive  arcades  of 
stone  for  the  kitchen,  store-rooms,  and  refectory ; 
above,  wooden  galleries  which  supplied  the  monks 
with  their  cells.  Most  of  this  is  now  in  ruins,  occu- 
pied in  part  by  peasants  and  their  sheep.  But  the 
church,  both  in  its  external  simplicity  and  its  inter- 
nal grandeur,  is  remarkable  for  the  splendid  deco- 
ration of  its  walls  with  mosaics,  which,  alas  ! have 
been  allowed  to  decay  as  much  from  the  indolence 
of  the  Greeks  as  the  intolerance  of  the  Turks.  In 
fact,  while  some  care  and  regard  for  classical  re- 
mains have  gradually  been  instilled  into  the  minds 
of  the  inhabitants — of  course,  money  value  is  an 
easily  understood  test — the  respect  for  their  splen- 
did mediseval  remains  has  only  gained  Western 
intellects  within  the  last  two  or  three  years,  so  that 
we  may  expect  another  generation  to  elapse  before 
this  new  kind  of  interest  will  be  disseminated  among 
the  possessors  of  so  great  a bequest  from  the  Middle 
Ages. 


500 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


The  interior  of  the  church  at  Daphne  is  a melan- 
choly example.  From  the  effects  of  damp  the 
mortar  has  loosened,  and  great  patches  of  the  pre- 
cious mosaic  have  fallen  to  the  ground.  You  can 
pick  up  handfuls  of  glazed  and  gilded  fragments,  of 
which  the  rich  surfaces  were  composed.  Here  and 
there  a Turkish  bullet  has  defaced  a solemn  Saint, 
while  the  fires  lit  by  soldiers  in  days  of  war,  and 
by  shepherds  in  time  of  peace,  have,  in  many  places, 
blackened  the  roof  beyond  recognition.  Within  the 
central  cupola  a gigantic  head  of  Christ  on  gold 
ground  is  still  visible,  or  was  so  when  I saw  the 
place  in  1889  5 but  the  whole  roof  was  in  danger 
of  falling,  and  the  Greek  Government,  at  the  in- 
stigation of  Dr.  Dbrpfeld,  had  undertaken  to  stay 
the  progress  of  decay,  and  so  the  building  was  filled 
with  scaffolding.  This,  however,  enabled  us  to 
mount  close  to  the  figures,  which  in  the  short  and 
high  building  are  seen  with  difficulty  from  the 
ground,  and  so  we  distinguished  clearly  round  the 
base  of  the  cupola  the  twelve  Apostles,  in  the  bay 
arches  the  prophets,  in  the  transepts  the  Annuncia- 
tion, the  Nativity,  the  Baptism,  and  the  Transfigura- 
tion of  Christ — all  according  to  the  strict  models 
laid  down  for  such  ornaments  by  the  Greek  Church. 
The  drawings  are  indeed  stiff  and  grotesque,  but  the 
gloom  and  mystery  of  the  building  hide  all  imper- 
fections, and  give  to  these  imposing  figures  in  black 
and  gold  a certain  majesty,  which  must  have  been 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


501 


felt  tenfold  by  simple  worshippers  not  trained  in 
habits  of  aesthetic  criticism. 

We  have,  unfortunately,  no  records  of  the  history 
of  these  convents,  as  in  the  case  of  many  Western 
abbeys,  and  the  old  chronicles  of  wars  and  pesti- 
lences seldom  mention  this  quiet  life.  We  should 
fain,  says  M.  Henri  Belle,  have  followed  the  for- 
tunes of  these  monks  who  left  some  fair  abbey  in 
Burgundy  to  catechise  schismatics  in  this  distant 
land,  and  bring  their  preaching  to  aid  the  sword  of 
the  Crusaders ; but  these  Crusaders  were  generally 
intent  on  changing  their  cross  for  a crown,  and  were 
therefore  not  at  all  likely  to  favor  the  rigid  proselyt- 
ism  of  the  Cistercians.  It  is  very  interesting  to 
know  that  Innocent  III.,  that  great  pope,  who  from 
the  outset  disapproved  of  the  violent  overthrow  of 
the  Christian  Empire  of  the  East,  was  the  first  to 
recommend,  both  to  the  conquerors  and  their  clergy, 
such  moderation  as  might  serve  to  bring  back  the 
schismatic  Greeks  to  the  Roman  fold.  There  are 
still  extant  several  of  his  letters  to  the  abbeys  of 
the  Morea,  and  to  this  abbey  of  the  duchy  of  Athens, 
showing  that  even  his  authority  and  zeal  in  this 
matter  were  unable  to  restrain  the  bigotry  of  the 
Latin  monks.  There  were  frequent  quarrels,  too, 
between  these  monks  of  Daphne  and  their  Duke, 
and  frequent  appeals  to  the  sovran  pontiff  to  regu- 
late the  relations  between  the  civil  authority,  which 
claimed  the  right  of  suzerain,  and  the  religious 


502 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


orders,  which  claimed  absolute  independence  and 
immunity  from  all  feudal  obligations.  Still,  in  spite 
of  all  disputes,  the  abbey  was  the  last  resting-place 
of  the  Frankish  Dukes  of  Athens,  and  in  a vault 
beneath  the  narthex  were  found  several  of  their 
rude  stone  coffins,  without  inscription  or  ornament. 
One  only  has  carved  upon  it  the  arms  of  the  second 
Guy  de  la  Roche,  third  Duke  of  Athens — two  en- 
twined serpents  surmounted  with  two  fleurs-de-lis. 
Guy  II.,  says  the  chronicle,  behaved  as  a gallant 
lord,  beloved  of  all,  and  attained  great  renown  in 
every  kingdom.  He  sleeps  here,  not  in  the  dark- 
ness of  oblivion,  but  obscured  by  greater  monuments 
of  the  greater  dead.  Yet  I cannot  but  dally  over 
this  interesting  piece  of  medieval  history,  the  more 
so  as  it  explains  the  strange  title  of  Theseus,  Duke 
of  Athens,  in  Shakespeare’s  immortal  Midsummer 
Night's  Dream , as  well  as  the  curious  fact,  at  least 
to  classical  readers,  that  the  poet  should  have  chosen 
mediaeval  Athens  as  a court  of  gracious  manners, 
and  suitable  for  the  background  of  his  fairy  drama. 

Neglecting  geography,  I shall  carry  the  reader 
next  to  the  very  analogous  ruins  of  Mistra,  where, 
however,  it  was  rather  the  Greek  that  supplanted 
the  Latin,  than  the  Latin  the  Greek  ecclesiastic. 

When  the  Franks  invaded  Greece  a very  remark- 
able family,  the  Villehardouins,  seized  a part  of  the 
Morea,  and  presently  built  Mistra,  above  Sparta ; it 
was  adorned  with  fair  Gothic  churches  and  palaces, 


MEDLEY AL  GREECE. 


503 


and  surmounted  by  a fortress.  Sixty  years  after 
the  conquest,  William  Villehardouin  was  captured 
by  a new  Byzantine  emperor  Palseologus,  who  was 
recovering  his  dominion.  The  Frank  was  obliged 
to  cede  for  his  ransom  the  forts  of  Mistra  and 
Monemvasia,  which  from  that  time  were  strongholds 
of  the  Byzantine  power  till  the  conquest  of  the 
Turks.  Still  the  Villehardouins  long  kept  hold  of 
Kalamata  and  other  forts ; and  to  the  pen  of  one  of 
the  family,  Geoffrey,  we  owe  the  famous  old  chron- 
icle La  Conquete  de  Constantinople , which  is  unique 
in  its  importance  both  as  a specimen  of  old  French 
and  a piece  of  mediaeval  history. 

The  architecture  of  Mistra,  begun  at  a noble  epoch 
by  the  Latins,  was  taken  up  by  the  Byzantine 
Greeks,  so  that  we  have  both  styles  combined  in 
curious  relics  of  the  now  deserted  stronghold.  For, 
since  1850,  when  an  earthquake  shook  down  many 
houses,  the  population  wandered  to  the  revived 
Sparta,  which  is  now  a thriving  town.  But  as  the 
old  Sparta  in  its  greatest  days  was  only  a collection 
of  shabby  villages,  showing  no  outward  sign  of  its 
importance,  so  the  new  and  vulgar  Sparta  has  no 
attractions  (save  the  lovely  orange  and  lemon 
orchards  round  it)  in  comparison  with  the  mediaeval 
Mistra.  The  houses  are  piled  one  above  another  till 
you  reach  the  summit  crowned  by  the  citadel  which, 
itself  a mountain,  is  severed  from  the  higher  moun- 
tains at  its  back  by  a deep  gorge  with  a tumbling 


504 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


river.  u The  whole  town  is  now  nothing  but  ruined 
palaces,  churches,  and  houses.  You  wander  up 
rudely-paved  streets  rising  zigzag,  and  pass  beneath 
arches  on  which  are  carved  the  escutcheons  of 
French  knights.  You  enter  courts  overgrown  with 
grass,  but  full  of  memories  of  the  Crusaders.  It  is 
the  very  home  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Passing  through 
these  streets,  now  the  resort  of  lizards  and  serpents, 
you  come  upon  Frankish  tombs,  among  others  that 
of  Theodora  Tocco,  wife  of  the  Emperor  Constan- 
tine Palaeologus,  who  died  in  1430.  The  Panagia 
is  the  only  church  well  preserved — a Latin  basilica, 
with  a portico  in  the  form  of  an  Italian  loggia,  and 
a Byzantine  tower  added  to  it.  This  building  is 
highly  ornamented  with  delicate  carving,  and  its 
walls  are  in  alternate  courses  of  brick  and  stone, 
while  the  gates,  columns,  and  floor  are  of  marble. 
The  interior  is  adorned  with  Byzantine  frescoes  of 
scenes  from  the  Old  Testament.  Higher  up  is  the 
metropolitan  church,  built  by  the  Greeks  as  soon  as 
William  Villehardouin  had  surrendered  the  fort  in 
1263.  This  great  church  is  not  so  beautiful  as  that 
already  described,  but  has  many  peculiarities  of  no 
less  interest.  The  palace  of  the  Frank  princes  was 
probably  at  the  wide  place  on  a higher  level,  where 
the  ruined  walls  show  the  remains  of  many  Gothic 
windows.  The  citadel  was  first  rehandled  by  the 
Greek  Palaeologi,  then  by  the  Turks,  then  by  the 
Venetians,  who  in  their  turn  seized  this  mediaeval 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


505 


i Fetter  of  Greece.’  And  now  all  the  traces  of  all 
these  conquerors  are  lying  together  confused  in 
silence  and  decay.  The  heat  of  the  sun  in  these 
narrow  and  stony  streets,  with  their  high  walls,  is 
intense.  But  you  cannot  hut  pause  when  you  find 
in  turn  old  Greek  carving,  Byzantine  dedications, 
Koman  inscriptions,  Frankish  devices,  emblazoned 
on  the  walls.  The  Turkish  baths  alone  are  intact, 
and  have  resisted  both  weather  and  earthquake.  But 
the  churches  occupy  the  chief  place  still,  dropping 
now  and  then  a stone,  as  it  were  a monumental  tear 
for  their  glorious  past ; the  Greek  Cross,  the  Latin 
Cross,  the  Crescent,  have  all  ruled  there  in  their 
turn.  Even  a pair  of  ruined  minarets  remain  to 
show  the  traces  of  that  slavery  to  which  the  people 
were  subject  for  four  hundred  years.” 

The  occupation  of  the  Frankish  knights  had  not 
found  an  adequate  historian,  since  old  Villehardouin, 
till  Gregorovius  wrote  his  Mediaeval  Athens.  The 
traveller  still  sees  throughout  Greece  frequent  traces 
of  this  short  domination,  but  all  of  one  sort — the 
ruins  of  castles  which  the  knights  had  built  to  over- 
awe their  subjects,  and  of  which  Mistra  was  perhaps 
the  most  important.  The  same  invaders  built  the 
great  towers  at  Kalamata,  and  most  picturesque  of 
all  is  the  keep  over  the  town  of  Karytena  in 
Arcadia,  the  stronghold  of  Hugo  de  Bruyeres.  But 
the  Frankish  devices  which  adorned  these  castles 
have  been  mostly  torn  down  by  the  Turks,  or  re- 


506 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


placed  by  the  Venetian  lion,  according  as  new 
invaders  turned  the  fortifications  of  their  predeces- 
sors to  their  own  uses.  Nor  are  any  of  these  castles 
to  be  compared  in  size  or  splendor  with  those  of 
northern  Europe.  The  most  famous  of  them,  the 
palace  at  Thebes,  was  so  completely  destroyed  by 
the  Catalans,  that  all  vestige  of  it  has  disappeared, 
and  we  owe  our  knowledge  of  it  to  the  description  of 
the  Catalan  annalist,  Ramon  Muntaner,  who  tells  of 
the  ravages  of  his  fellows  not  without  some  stings 
of  his  aesthetic  conscience. 

But  let  us  pass  from  these  complex  ruins,  which 
speak  the  conflict  of  the  East  and  West,  to  the 
peculiar  quiet  homes  of  the  Greek  monk,  who 
spends  his  time  not  in  works  of  charity,  not  in 
labors  of  erudition,  not  in  the  toil  of  education,  like 
his  western  brother,  but  simply  in  performing  an 
arduous  and  exacting  ritual,  in  praying,  or  rather 
in  repeating  prayers,  so  many  hours  in  the  day,  in 
observing  fasts  and  vigils,  above  all  in  maintaining 
the  strict  creed  which  has  given  the  title  of  orthodox 
to  his  Church.  These  resting-places  (/ibvy  is  the 
suggestive  word)  are  of  course  settled  in  quiet 
regions,  in  the  mountains,  upon  the  islands,  so  that 
we  cannot  expect  them  near  a stirring  capital  like 
Athens.  Yet  in  the  gorge  of  the  defile  which  leads 
up  to  Phyle  there  is  a little  sJccte  (the  house  of 
ascetics)  lonely  and  wild  in  site ; and  by  the  sea  on 
Salamis,  nearly  over  against  Megara,  the  traveller 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


507 


will  find  a small  but  very  characteristic  specimen  of 
the  Greek  monastery,  the  Panagia  Plueneromene. 

There  he  will  see  the  tiny  cells,  and  the  library, 
almost  as  small  as  any  of  them,  at  the  top  of  dark 
stairs,  and  containing  some  twenty  volumes ; he  will 
be  received  by  the  Hegoumenos  with  mastic  and 
jam,  and  then  with  coffee,  and  strive  to  satisfy  the 
simple  curiosity  of  the  old  men,  who  seem  so 
anxious  to  hear  about  the  world,  and  yet  have 
turned  away  their  eyes  from  seeing  it.  Above  all, 
he  will  find  in  the  midst  of  the  enclosure  a little 
model  Byzantine  Church,  built  with  the  greatest 
neatness,  of  narrow  bricks,  in  which  string  courses 
and  crosses  are  introduced  by  an  altered  setting  of 
the  bricks.  Here  too  he  will  see  the  curious  practice, 
which  led  to  marble  imitations  at  Venice,  of  orna- 
menting the  walls  by  building  in  green  and  blue 
pottery — apparently  old  Rhodian  ware,  for  it  is  not 
now  to  be  found  in  use.  It  is  a simpler  form  of  the 
decoration  already  described  in  the  Cathedral  of 
Athens,  that  of  ornamenting  a wall  with  foreign 
objects  symmetrically  disposed,  and  no  one  who  sees 
it  will  say  that  it  is  inartistic.  Within  are  the  usual 
ornaments  of  the  Byzantine  Church,  but  not  in 
mosaic ; for  all  the  walls  are  covered  with  frescoes 
by  a monk  of  the  early  eighteenth  century,  a genius 
in  his  way,  though  following  strictly  the  traditions 
of  the  school  of  Athos.  The  traveller  who  ascends 
the  pulpit  will  thence  see  himself  surrounded  by  very 


508 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


strange  pictures — over  the  west  door,  as  is  pre- 
scribed, the  Last  Judgment,  with  the  sins  of  men 
being  weighed  in  a huge  balance,  and  devils  under- 
neath trying  to  pull  down  the  fatal  scale.  The  con- 
demned are  escorted  by  demons  to  an  enormous 
mouth  breathing  out  flames — the  mouth  of  hell. 
Beatitudes  and  tortures  supply  the  top  and  bottom 
of  the  composition.  Even  more  quaint  is  the  miracle 
of  the  swine  of  the  Gadarcnes  running  down  a steep 
place  into  the  sea.  They  are  drowning  in  the  waves, 
and  on  the  head  or  back  of  each  is  a little  black 
devil  trying  to  save  himself  from  sinking.  Similar 
creatures  are  escaping  from  the  statues  of  heathen 
gods  which  tumble  from  the  walls  as  the  infant  Jesus 
passes  by  on  his  flight  to  Egypt.  This  points  to  the 
belief  that  the  statues  of  heathen  gods  were  inhab- 
ited by  an  evil  spirit,  and  so  far  actually  bodies  with 
souls  within  them  ! 

These  few  details  are  sufficient  to  tempt  the  reader 
to  visit  this  monastery,  which  is  far  better  worth 
seeing  than  the  beautifully  situated  and  hospitable 
Vourkano  described  elsewhere  in  this  work.  I have 
no  space  to  speak  of  Megaspilion,  for  this  book  must 
be  kept  within  handy  limits,  and  can  never  aspire  to 
even  approximate  completeness.  So  also  will  I here 
pass  by  with  a mere  mention  the  eyries  of  Meteora 
in  Thessaly,  perched  upon  strange  pinnacles  of  rock, 
like  S.  Simeon  upon  his  pillar.  The  approach  to, 
and  descent  from,  these  monasteries  in  a swinging 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


509 


net  is  indeed  a strange  adventure  to  undergo,  and 
more  painfully  unpleasant  than  most  such  adventures, 
but  at  the  top  there  is  little  of  interest.  The  hoards 
of  precious  MSS.  which  Curzon  describes  in  his  de- 
lightful volume,  over  which  the  monks  quarrelled 
when  he  offered  gold,  and  would  not  sell  them  be- 
cause none  would  allow  his  brother  to  enjoy  the 
money — these  splendid  illuminated  books  have  either 
been  cozened  away  by  antiquarians,  or  are  gathered 
in  the  University  Library  at  Athens.  They  are 
there  in  their  right  place.  I understand  the  peaks 
of  Meteora,  when  the  present  occupants  die  out,  are 
to  receive  not  holy  men,  but  criminals,  who  are  to 
suffer  their  solitary  confinement  not  in  dungeons  be- 
neath the  earth,  but  far  above  the  haunts  of  men. 

But  all  these  monastic  settlements  pale  into  insig- 
nificance when  we  turn  to  Mount  Athos,  the  real 
Holy  of  Holies  of  the  Greek  Church,  which  is  in- 
deed far  from  the  kingdom  of  Greece,  and  therefore 
beyond  the  scope  of  this  work,  and  yet  a chapter  on 
the  medisevalism  of  Eastern  Europe  can  hardly  be 
written  without  some  consideration  of  this  strange 
promontory,  in  its  beauty  surpassing  all  description, 
in  its  history  unique  both  for  early  progress  and  for 
subsequent  unchangeableness,  in  its  daily  life  a faith- 
ful mirror  of  long  past  centuries,  even  as  its  build- 
ings are  now  mediaeval  castles  inhabited  by  mediaeval 
men.  I will  here  set  down  the  impressions,  from  a 
visit  made  in  1889,  not  merely  of  the  art,  but  of  the 


510 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


life  of  this,  the  most  distinctive  as  well  as  the  largest 
example  of  Greek  monasticism. 

Velificatus  Atlios  is  an  expression  which  has  a 
meaning  even  now,  though  a very  different  one 
from  that  implied  by  Juvenal.  The  satirist  would 
not  believe  that  Xerxes  turned  it  into  an  island, 
though  the  remains  of  the  canal  are  plainly  visible 
to  the  present  day.  But  now  the  incompetence  of 
the  Turkish  Government  has  turned  Athos,  for  Eng- 
lish travellers,  into  an  island,  for  it  may  only  be  ap- 
proached by  sea.  If  you  attempt  to  ride  there  from 
Salonica  or  Cavalla,  you  are  at  once  warned  that  you 
do  so  at  your  own  risk ; that  the  tariff  now  fixed  by 
a joint  commission  of  Turks,  dragomans,  and  ban- 
dits for  the  release  of  an  English  captive  is  £15,000  ; 
that  you  will  have  to  pay  that  sum  yourself,  etc.  etc. 
This  is  enough  to  drive  any  respectable  and  respon- 
sible person  from  the  enterprise  of  the  land  journey, 
and  so  he  must  wait  for  the  rare  and  irregular 
chances  of  boat  or  steamer  traffic.  It  was  my  good 
fortune  to  find  one  of  II.  MJs  ships  going  that  way 
from  Salonica,  and  with  a captain  gracious  enough 
to  drop  me  on  the  headland,  or  rather  to  throw  me 
up  on  it,  for  we  landed  in  a heavy  sea,  with  con- 
siderable risk  and  danger,  and  the  Tpexofua,  as  they 
classically  call  it,  lasted  all  day,  and  raged  around 
the  Holy  Mountain.  Yet  this  adventurous  way  of 
landing  under  the  great  western  cliffs  of  the  prom- 
ontory, with  the  monasteries  of  S.  Paul,  Gregory, 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


511 


and  Dionysius,  each  on  their  several  peaks,  looking 
down  upon  us  from  a dizzy  height  through  the 
stormy  mists,  was  doubtless  far  the  most  picturesque 
introduction  we  could  have  had  to  the  long-promised 
land. 

For  this  had  been  many  years  my  desire,  not  only 
to  see  the  strangest  and  most  perfect  relic  now  ex- 
tant of  mediaeval  superstition,  but  to  find,  if  possible, 
in  the  early  MSS.  which  throng  the  libraries  of  that 
famous  retreat  some  cousin,  if  not  some  uncle  or 
aunt  of  the  great  illuminated  MSS.  which  are  the 
glory  of  the  early  Irish  Church.  The  other  trav- 
ellers who  have  reached  this  place  have  done  so  by 
arriving  at  some  legitimate  port  on  the  tamer  eastern 
side ; the  latest,  Mr.  Riley,1  by  landing  at  the 
gentlest  and  most  humane  spot  of  all,  the  bay  of 
Vatopedi.  We,  on  the  contrary,  crept  into  a little 
boat-harbor  under  the  strictest,  the  most  primitive, 
and  far  the  most  beautiful  of  the  western  eagles* 
nests,  whither  English  pickles,  tinned  lobster,  and 
caviare  have  not  yet  penetrated.  We  were  doing  a 
very  informal  and  unceremonious  thing,  for  we  were 
invading  the  outlying  settlements,  to  demand  shelter 
and  hospitality,  whereas  we  should  have  first  of  all 
proceeded  to  the  capital,  Karyes,  to  present  pom- 
pous letters  of  introduction  from  Papas,  Prime  Min- 
isters, Patriarchs,  and  to  receive  equally  elaborate 

1 Athos , or  the  Mountain  of  the  Monks.  By  Athelstan  Riley. 
Longmans,  1887.  This  is  the  newest  and  best  book  on  the  subject. 


512 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


missives  from  the  central  committee,  asking  the 
several  monasteries  to  entertain  us. 

But  we  took  the  place  by  storm,  not  by  regular 
siege.  We  showed  our  letters,  when  we  climbed  up 
to  Dionysiu,  as  they  call  it,  and  prayed  them  to 
forestall  the  hospitality  which  they  would  doubtless 
show  us,  if  we  returned  with  official  sanction.  The 
good  monks  were  equal  to  the  occasion ; they  waived 
ceremony,  though  ceremony  lords  it  in  these  con- 
servative establishments,  and  every  violation  of  it 
is  called  a Trpoapolv'j,  probably  the  greatest  sin  that  a 
monk  can  commit.  At  every  step  of  our  route  this 
obstacle  stood  before  us,  and  had  we  attempted  to 
force  our  way  past  it,  no  doubt  our  dumb  mules 
would  have  spoken,  and  reproved  our  madness. 
Yet  when  they  had  before  them  all  the  missives 
which  were  to  be  read  at  Karyes  next  day,  to  be  fol- 
lowed up  by  a letter  addressed  to  themselves,  they 
actually  antedated  their  hospitality  and  made  us  feel 
at  home  and  happy. 

Nowhere  have  I seen  more  perfect  and  graceful 
hospitality  in  spirit,  nowhere  a more  genuine  attempt 
to  feed  the  hungry  and  shelter  the  outcast,  even 
though  the  means  and  materials  of  doing  so  were 
often  very  inadequate  to  Western  notions.  But  let 
me  first  notice  the  extant  comforts.  We  always  had 
ample  room  in  special  strangers’  apartments,  which 
occupy  the  highest  and  most  picturesque  place  in 
every  monastery.  We  always  had  clean  beds  to 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


513 


sleep  in,  nor  were  we  disturbed  by  any  unbidden 
bedfellows,  these  creatures  having  (as  we  were  told) 
made  it  a rule  of  etiquette  never  to  appear  or  molest 
any  one  till  after  Pascha,  the  Feast  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion. The  feast  was  peculiarly  late  this  year,  and 
the  weather  perfect  summer ; still  the  insects  care- 
fully avoided  any  such  TipoaftoXrj  toward  us  as  to 
violate  their  Lenten  fast.  In  addition  to  undis- 
turbed nights — a great  boon  to  weary  travellers — 
we  had  always  good  black  bread,  and  fresh  every 
day ; we  had  also  excellent  Turkish  coffee,  and 
fortunately  most  wholesome,  for  the  ceremony  of  the 
place  requires  you  to  drink  it  whenever  you  enter, 
and  whenever  you  leave,  any  domicile  whatever. 
Seven  or  eight  times  a day  did  we  partake  of  this 
luxury  and  without  damage  to  digestion  or  nerves. 
There  was  also  sound  red  wine,  and  plenty  of  it, 
varying  according  to  the  makers,  but  mostly  good, 
and  only  in  one  case  slightly  resinated.  There  were 
also  excellent  hazel-nuts,  often  served  hot,  roast  in  a 
pan,  and  very  palatable. 

What  else  was  there  good?  There  was  jam  of 
many  kinds,  all  good,  though  unfortunately  served 
neat,  and  to  be  eaten  in  spoonfuls,  without  any 
bread,  till  at  last  we  committed  the  prosvole  of  ask- 
ing to  have  it  brought  back  when  there  was  bread 
on  the  table.  There  were  also  eggs  in  abundance, 
just  imported  to  be  ready  for  Easter,  and  therefore 
fresh,  and  served  an  plat.  Nor  had  we  anywhere 

33 


514 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


to  make  the  complaint  so  pathetic  in  Mr.  Riley’s 
book,  that  the  oil  or  butter  used  in  cooking  was 
rancid.  This  is  the  advantage  of  going  in  spring, 
or  rather  one  of  the  many  advantages,  that  both  oil 
and  butter  (the  latter  is  of  course  rare)  were  quite 
unobjectionable. 

When  I say  that  butter  was  rare  and  eggs  im- 
ported, I assume  that  the  reader  knows  of  the 
singularity  of  Athos,  which  consists  in  the  absence 
of  the  greatest  feature  of  human  life — woman,  and 
all  inferior  imitations  of  her  in  the  animal  world. 
Not  a cow,  not  a goat,  not  a hen,  not  a cat,  of  that 
sex ! And  this  for  centuries ! Three  thousand 
monks,  kept  up  by  importation,  three  thousand 
laborers  or  servants,  imported  likewise,  but  no  home 
production  of  animals — that  is  considered  odious  and 
impious.  And  when,  in  this  remote  nook  of  extreme 
conservatism,  this  one  refuge  from  the  snares  and 
wiles  of  Eve,  a Russian  monk  seriously  proposed  to 
us  the  propriety  of  admitting  the  other  sex,  we  felt 
a shock  as  of  an  earthquake,  and  began  to  under- 
stand the  current  feeling  that  the  Russians  were 
pushing  their  influence  at  Athos,  in  order  to  trans- 
form the  Holy  Mountain  into  a den  of  political 
thieves. 

Nothing  is  more  curious  than  to  study  the  effects, 
upon  a large  society,  of  the  total  exclusion  of  the 
female  sex.  It  is  commonly  thought  that  men  by 
themselves  must  grow  rude  and  savage  ; that  it  is 


MEDIEVAL  GREECE. 


515 


to  women  we  owe  all  the  graces  and  refinements  of 
social  intercourse.  Nothing  can  be  further  from  the 
truth.  I venture  to  say  that  in  all  the  world  there  is 
not  so  perfectly  polite  and  orderly  a society  as  that 
of  Athos.  As  regards  hospitality  and  gracious  man- 
ners, the  monks  and  their  servants  put  to  shame  the 
most  polished  Western  people.  Disorder,  tumult, 
confusion,  seem  impossible  in  this  land  of  peace. 
If  they  have  differences,  and  squabble  about  rights 
of  property,  these  things  are  referred  to  law  courts, 
and  determined  by  argument  of  advocates,  not  by 
disputing  and  high  words  among  the  claimants. 
While  life  and  property  is  still  unsafe  on  the  main- 
land, and  on  the  sister  peninsulas  of  Cassandra  and 
Longos,  Athos  has  been  for  centuries  as  secure  as 
any  county  in  England.  So  far,  then,  all  the  evi- 
dence is  in  favor  of  the  restriction.  Many  of  the 
monks,  being  carried  to  the  peninsula  in  early  youth, 
have  completely  forgotten  what  a woman  is  like, 
except  for  the  brown  smoky  pictures  of  the  Panagia 
with  her  infant  in  all  the  churches,  which  the  strict 
iconography  of  the  orthodox  Church  has  made  as 
unlovely  and  non-human  as  it  is  possible  for  a picture 
to  be.  So  far,  so  well. 

But  if  the  monks  imagined  they  could  simply  ex- 
punge the  other  sex  from  their  life  without  any  but 
the  obvious  consequences,  they  were  mistaken. 
What  strikes  the  traveller  is  not  the  rudeness,  the 
untidyness,  the  discomfort  of  a purely  male  society, 


516 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


it  is  rather  its  dulness  and  depression.  Some  of  the 
older  monks  were  indeed  jolly  enough ; they  drank 
their  wine,  and  cracked  their  jokes  freely.  But  the 
novices  who  attended  at  table,  the  men  and  boys 
who  had  come  from  the  mainland  to  work  as  ser- 
vants, muleteers,  laborers,  seemed  all  suffering  under 
a permanent  silence  and  sadness.  The  town  of 
Karyes  is  the  most  sombre  and  gloomy  place  I ever 
saw.  There  are  no  laughing  groups,  no  singing,  no 
games  among  the  boys.  Every  one  looked  serious, 
solemn,  listless,  vacant,  as  the  case  might  be,  but 
devoid  of  keenness  and  interest  in  life.  At  first  one 
might  suspect  that  the  monks  were  hard  taskmasters, 
ruling  their  servants  as  slaves ; but  this  is  not  the 
real  solution.  It  is  that  the  main  source  of  interest 
and  cause  of  quarrel  in  all  these  animals,  human  and 
other,  does  not  exist.  For  the  dulness  was  not  con- 
fined to  the  young  monks  or  the  laity ; it  had  in- 
vaded even  the  lower  animals.  The  tom-cats,  which 
were  there  in  crowds,  passed  one  another  in  moody 
silence  along  the  roofs.  They  seemed  permanently 
dumb.  And  if  the  cocks  had  not  lost  their  voice, 
and  crowed  frequently  in  the  small  hours  of  the 
morning,  their  note  seemed  to  me  a wail,  not  a 
challenge — the  clear  though  unconscious  expression 
of  a great  want  in  their  lives. 

How  different  were  the  notes  of  the  nightingales, 
the  pigeons,  the  jays,  whose  wings  emancipate  them 
from  monkish  restrictions,  and  whose  music  fills  with 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


517 


life  all  the  enchanting  glens,  brakes,  and  forests  in 
this  earthly  Paradise ! 

For  if  an  exquisite  situation  in  the  midst  of  his- 
toric splendor,  a marvellous  variety  of  outline  and 
climate,  and  a vegetation  rich  and  undisturbed  be- 
yond comparison,  can  make  a modern  Eden  possible, 
it  is  here.  Nature  might  be  imagined  gradually  im- 
proving in  her  work  when  she  framed  the  three 
peninsulas  of  the  Chaleidice.  The  westernmost, 
the  old  Pallene,  once  the  site  of  the  historic  Olyn- 
thus,  is  broad  and  flat,  with  no  recommendation 
but  its  fertility  j the  second,  Sithonia,  makes  some 
attempt  at  beiug  picturesque,  having  an  outline  of 
gently  serrated  hills,  which  rise,  perhaps,  to  one 
thousand  feet,  and  are  dotted  with  woods.  Any- 
where else,  Sithonia  may  take  some  rank,  but  within 
sight  of  the  mighty  Olympus,  and  beside  the  giant 
Athos,  it  remains  obscure  and  without  a history. 
Athos  runs  out  into  the  Aegean,  with  its  outermost 
cone  standing  six  thousand  five  hundred  feet  out  of 
the  sea,  and  as  such  is  (I  believe)  far  the  most  strik- 
ing headland  in  Europe.  You  may  see  higher  Alps, 
but  from  a height,  and  with  intervening  heights  to 
lessen  the  effect ; you  may  see  higher  Carpathians, 
but  from  the  dull  plain  of  land  in  Hungary.  Here 
you  can  enjoy  the  full  splendor  of  the  peak  from  the 
sea,  from  the  fringe  of  white  breakers  round  the 
base  up  to  the  pale-gray,  snow-streaked  dome,  which 
reaches  beyond  torrent  and  forest  into  heaven. 


518 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


Within  two  or  three  hours  you  can  ascend  from 
gardens  of  oranges  and  lemons,  figs  and  olives, 
through  woods  of  arbutus,  myrtle,  cytisus,  heath, 
and  carpets  of  forget-me-not,  anemone,  iris,  orchid, 
to  the  climate  of  primroses  and  violets,  and  to  the 
stunted  birch  and  gnarled  fir  which  skirt  the  regions 
of  perpetual  snow.  Moreover,  the  gradually-in- 
creasing ridge  which  forms  the  backbone  of  the 
peninsula  is  seamed  on  both  sides  with  constant 
glens  and  ravines,  in  each  of  which  tumbling  water 
gives  movement  to  the  view,  and  life  to  the  vegeta- 
tion which,  even  where  it  hides  in  its  rich  luxuriance 
the  course  of  the  stream,  cannot  hush  the  sounding 
voice.  Here  the  nightingale  sings  all  the  day  long, 
and  the  fair  shrubs  grow,  unmolested  by  those  herds 
of  wandering  goats,  which  are  the  real  locusts  of  the 
wild  lands  of  southern  Europe. 

Each  side  of  the  main  ridge  has  its  peculiarities 
of  vegetation,  that  facing  north-east  being  gentler  in 
aspect,  and  showing  brakes  of  Mediterranean  heath 
ten  or  fifteen  feet  high,  through  which  mule  paths 
are  cut  as  through  a forest.  The  coast  facing  south- 
west is  far  sterner,  wilder,  and  more  precipitous, 
but  enjoys  a temperature  almost  tropical ; for  there 
the  plants  and  fruits  of  southern  Greece  flourish 
without  stint. 

The  site  of  the  western  monasteries  is  generally 
on  a precipitous  rock  at  the  mouth  of  one  of  the 
ravines,  and  commands  a view  up  the  glen  to  the 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


519 


great  summit  of  the  mountain.  To  pass  from  any 
one  of  these  monasteries  to  the  next,  you  must  either 
clamber  down  a precipice  to  the  sea,  and  pass  round 
in  a boat  commanded  by  a skipper-monk,  or  you 
must  mount  the  mules  provided,  and  ride  round  the 
folds  and  seams  of  the  precipices,  on  paths  incred- 
ibly dangerous  of  aspect,  and  yet  incredibly  free 
from  any  real  disasters.  When  you  come  to  a tor- 
rent you  must  descend  by  zigzag  winding  still  you 
reach  a practicable  ford  near  the  sea-level,  and  cross 
it  at  the  foot  of  some  sounding  fall.  But  the  next 
projecting  shoulder  stands  straight  out  of  the  sea, 
and  you  must  climb  again  a similar  break-neck  as- 
cent, till  you  reach  a path  along  the  edge  of  the 
dizzy  cliff,  where  you  pass  with  one  foot  in  the  air, 
over  the  sea  one  thousand  feet  beneath,  while  the 
other  is  nudged  now  and  then  by  the  wall  of  the 
rock  within,  so  that  the  cautious  mule  chooses  the 
outer  ledge  of  the  road,  since  a loss  of  balance  means 
strictly  a loss  of  life.  It  was  a constant  regret  to  us 
that  none  of  the  party  could  sketch  the  beautiful 
scenes  which  were  perpetually  before  us,  or  even 
photograph  them.  But  the  efforts  of  photographers 
hitherto  have  been  very  disappointing.  There  are 
indeed  pictures  of  most  of  the  monasteries,  taken  at 
the  instigation  of  the  Russians,  but  all  so  wretchedly 
inadequate,  so  carefully  taken  from  the  wrong  point, 
that  we  deliberately  avoided  accepting  them,  or 
carrying  them  home.  Mr.  Riley  too,  a man  of  taste 


520 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


and  feeling,  had  essayed  the  thing  with  leisure  and 
experience  in  his  art,  and  yet  the  cuts  taken  from 
the  photographs,  which  are  published  in  his  book, 
are  also  hopelessly  inadequate.  When,  for  example, 
approaching  from  the  north,  we  suddenly  came  in 
view  of  Simopetra — standing  close  to  us,  across  a 
yawning  chasm,  with  the  sea  roaring  one  thousand 
feet  beneath,  high  in  the  air  on  its  huge,  lonely  crag, 
holding  on  to  the  land  by  a mere  viaduct,  and  be- 
hind it  the  great  rocks  and  gorges  and  forests  framed 
by  the  snowy  dome  of  Athos  in  the  far  background 
— we  felt  that  the  world  can  produce  no  finer  scene, 
and  that  the  most  riotous  artistic  imagination,  such 
as  Gustave  Dore’s,  would  be  tamed  in  its  presence 
by  the  inability  of  human  pencil  to  exceed  it.1  The 
plan  of  this  monastery  and  its  smaller  brothers  (I 
was  going  to  call  them  sisters !)  is  that  of  a strong, 
square  keep,  rising  straight  from  the  sheer  cliffs, 
with  but  a single  bridge  of  rock  leading  landward, 
and  when  the  wall  has  been  carried  to  a height  far 
more  than  sufficient  against  any  attack  save  modern 
artillery,  they  begin  to  throw  round  it  stories  of  bal- 
conies, stayed  out  from  the  wall  by  very  light  wooden 
beams,  each  balcony  sheltered  by  that  above,  till  a 
deep-pitched  roof  overhangs  the  whole.  The  top- 
most and  outermost  corner  of  these  balconies  is 

1 The  very  few  travellers  who  have  seen  this,  the  most  pictu- 
resque of  all  European  buildings,  must  have  heard  with  a painful 
shock  that  it  was  burned  down  in  the  spring  of  1891. 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


521 


always  the  guest-chamber  or  chambers,  and  from 
this  lofty  nook  you  not  only  look  out  upon  the  sea 
and  land,  but  between  the  chinks  of  the  floor  of 
boards  you  see  into  air  under  your  feet,  and  reflect 
that  if  a storm  swept  round  the  cliff  your  frail  tene- 
ment might  be  crushed  like  a house  of  cards,  and 
wander  into  the  sea  far  beneath.  To  me,  at  least, 
it  was  impossible  to  walk  round  these  balconies 
without  an  occasional  shudder,  and  yet  we  could  not 
hear  that  the  slender  supports  had  ever  given  way, 
or  that  any  of  the  monks  had  ever  been  launched 
into  the  air.  On  the  divans  running  round  these 
aerial  guest-chambers  are  beautiful  rugs  from 
Smyrna  and  Bulgaria,  the  ancient  gifts  of  pilgrims 
and  of  peasants,  which  were  thrust  aside  in  the  rich 
and  vulgar  Russian  establishments  for  the  gaudy 
products  of  modern  Constantinople  and  Athens, 
while  the  older  and  simpler  monasteries  were  content 
with  their  soft  and  mellow  colors.  The  wealth  of 
Athos  in  these  rugs  is  very  great.  There  were  con- 
stantly on  the  mules  under  us  saddle-cloths  which 
would  be  the  glory  of  an  aesthetic  drawing-room. 

But  it  is  high  time  for  us  to  take  a closer  view  of 
the  inside  of  these  curious  castles,  some  of  which, 
Vatopedi,  Iviron,  Lavra,  are  almost  towns  sur- 
rounded by  great  fortifications,  and  which  possess 
not  only  large  properties,  outlying  farms,  depen- 
dencies, but  within  them  a whole  population  of 
monks  and  their  retainers.  Let  us  first  speak  of 


522 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


the  treasures  accumulated  within  them,  relies  of 
ancient  art  and  industry  in  the  way  of  books,  pict- 
ures, and  work  in  precious  metals.  The  reader  will 
doubtless  appreciate  that  the  estimate  of  some  of 
these  things  depends  largely  on  the  taste  and  educa- 
tion of  the  visitor.  Mr.  Riley  thinks  it  of  impor- 
tance, in  his  excellent  work,  to  enumerate  the  exact 
number  of  chapels  contained  in,  or  attached,  to,  each 
monastery,  whereas  to  me  the  exact  number,  and  the 
name  of  the  patron  saint,  seems  about  the  last  detail 
with  which  I should  trouble  my  readers.  So  also 
some  sentimental  travellers  enumerate  with  care  the 
alleged  relics,  and  Mr.  Riley  lets  it  be  seen  plainly 
not  only  that  he  is  disposed  to  believe  in  their 
genuineness,  but  that,  if  proven,  it  is  of  the  highest 
religious  importance.  Seeing  the  gross  ignorance 
of  the  monks  on  all  really  important  matters  of  his- 
tory on  the  real  date  and  foundation  of  their  several 
monasteries,  the  ascription  of  a relic  to  some  com- 
panion of  our  Lord,  or  some  worthy  of  the  first  four 
centuries,  seems  to  me  ridiculous. 

With  this  preamble  I turn  first  to  the  books. 
Every  convent  we  visited  had  a library  containing 
MSS.  The  larger  had  in  addition  many  printed 
books ; in  one,  for  example,  which  was  not  rich 
(Esphigmenu),  we  found  a fine  bound  set  of  Migne’s 
u Fathers.”  The  library  room  was  generally  a 
mere  closet  with  very  little  light,  and  there  was  no 
sign  that  anybody  ever  read  there.  The  contents 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


523 


indeed  consisted  of  ecclesiastical  books,  prayer- 
books,  lesson-books,  rituals  noted  for  chanting,  of 
which  they  had  working  copies  in  their  churches. 
Still  they  are  so  careless  concerning  the  teachings 
of  their  old  service  books  that  they  have  completely 
lost  the  meaning  of  the  old  musical  notation,  which 
appears  in  dots  and  commas  (generally  red)  over 
their  older  texts,  and  they  now  follow  a new  tradi- 
tion with  a new  notation.  When  one  has  seen  some 
hundreds  of  these  Gospels,  and  extracts  from  the 
Gospels,  ranging  over  several  centuries,  some 
written  in  gold  characters  on  the  title-page,  with 
conventional  pictures  of  the  Evangelists  on  gold 
ground,  one  begins  to  wonder  what  could  have  pos- 
sessed the  good  monks  to  occupy  themselves  with 
doing  over  and  over  again  what  had  been  done  hun- 
dreds of  times,  and  lay  before  them  in  multitudes  of 
adequate  copies.  I suppose  the  nature  of  their 
religious  worship  suggests  the  true  answer.  As 
they  count  it  religion  to  repeat  over  and  over  again 
prayers  and  lessons  all  through  their  nights  of  vigil 
and  their  days  of  somnolence,  so  they  must  have 
thought  it  acceptable  to  God,  and  a meritorious 
work,  to  keep  copying  out,  in  a fair  hand,  Gospels 
that  nobody  would  read  and  that  nobody  would  dis- 
turb for  centuries  on  dusty  shelves. 

In  the  twelve  libraries  I examined  I did  not  find 
more  than  half  a dozen  secular  books,  and  these  of 
late  date,  and  copies  of  well-known  texts.  There 


524 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


may  of  course  be  some  stray  treasures  still  con- 
cealed in  nooks  and  corners,  though  a good  scholar, 
Mr.  Lambros  of  Athens,  has  spent  much  labor  in 
classifying  and  cataloguing  these  MSS.  But  I saw 
chests  here  and  there  in  out-of-the-way  lumber  rooms, 
with  a few  books  lying  in  them,  and  believe  that  in 
this  way  something  valuable  may  still  be  concealed. 
In  general  the  monks  were  friendly  and  ready  to 
show  their  books,  or  at  least  their  perfect  manners 
made  them  appear  so ; but  in  one  monastery  (Stav- 
ronikita)  they  were  clearly  anxious  that  none  of 
these  treasures  should  be  studied.  They  had  not 
only  tossed  together  all  their  MSS.  which  had  been 
recently  set  in  order  by  Mr.  Lambros,  but  had  torn 
off  the  labels  with  which  he  had  numbered  them, 
without  any  attempt,  or  I believe  intention,  of  re- 
placing them  with  new  ones. 

As  I am  not  now  addressing  learned  readers,  I need 
not  go  into  details  about  the  particular  books  which 
interested  me.  My  main  object  had  been  to  find,  if 
possible,  at  Mount  Athos  some  analogy,  some  parallel, 
to  the  splendid  school  of  ornamentation  which  has 
left  us  the  Book  of  Kells , the  Lindisfame  Gospels , 
St.  Chad’s  Gospel  at  Lichfield,  and  other  such 
masterpieces  of  Irish  illumination.  I have  always 
thought  it  likely  that  some  early  Byzantine  mission- 
ary found  his  way  to  Ireland,  and  gave  the  first 
impulse  to  a local  school  of  art.  That  there  is  a 
family  likeness  between  early  Irish  and  Byzantine 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


525 


work  seems  to  me  undeniable.  I can  hardly  say 
whether  I was  disappointed  or  not  to  find  that,  as  far 
as  Athos  went,  the  Irish  school  was  perfectly  inde- 
pendent, and  there  was  no  early  book  which  even 
remotely  suggested  the  marvellous  designs  of  the 
Book  of  Kells.  The  emblems  of  the  Evangelists 
seemed  unknown  there  before  the  eleventh  century. 
There  was  ample  use  of  gilding,  and  a good  knowl- 
edge of  colors.  In  one  or  two  we  found  a dozen 
kinds  of  birds  adequately  portrayed  in  colors — the 
peacock,  pheasant,  red-legged  partridge,  stork,  etc., 
being  at  once  recognizable.  But  all  the  capitals 
were  upon  the  same  design,-  all  the  bands  of  orna- 
ment were  little  more  than  blue  diaper  on  gold 
ground.  There  were  a good  many  books  in  slant- 
ing uncials,  probably  seventh  to  ninth  century  ; an 
occasional  page  or  fragment  of  earlier  date,  but 
nothing  that  we  could  see  of  value  for  solving  the 
difficulties  of  a Scripture  text.  Careful  and  beauti- 
ful handwritings  on  splendid  vellum  of  the  succeed- 
ing centuries  were  there  in  countless  abundance. 
They  are  valuable  as  specimens  of  handwriting  and 
as  nothing  else.  In  many  of  the  libraries  the  monk 
in  charge  was  quite  intelligent  about  the  dates  of  the 
MSS.,  and  was  able  to  read  the  often  perplexing 
colophon  in  which  the  century  and  indiction  were 
recorded.  But  the  number  of  dated  MSS.  was, 
alas ! very  small. 

I now  turn  to  the  xecfxrjlta  or  treasures  in  precious 


526 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


metals  and  gems,  which  have  often  been  described 
and  belauded  by  travellers.  Each  visitor  sees  some- 
thing to  admire  which  the  rest  pass  over  in  silence, 
or  else  he  is  shown  something  not  noticed  by  the 
rest.  So  the  reader  must  consult  first,  Curzon,  then 
Mr.  Tozer,  then  Didron,  then  Mr.  Riley,  and  even 
after  that  there  remain  many  things  to  be  noted  by 
fresh  observers.  The  fact  is  that  the  majority  of 
these  reliquaries,  pictures,  and  ornaments  of  the 
screen  are  tawdry  and  vulgar,  either  made  or  re- 
newed lately,  and  in  bad  taste.  It  is  only  here  and 
there  that  a splendid  old  piece  of  work  strikes  one 
with  its  strange  contrast.  Far  the  most  interesting 
of  all  the  illustrations  given  by  Mr.  Riley  is  that  of 
the  nave  of  one  of  the  Churches,  which  are  all 
(except  the  old  Church  of  Karves)  built  on  exactly 
the  same  plan,  with  small  variations  as  to  the  light- 
ing, or  the  outer  narthex,  or  the  dimensions.  An 
architect  would  find  these  variations  highly  interest- 
ing ; to  the  amateur  there  seems  in  them  a great 
sameness.  But  among  the  uniform,  or  nearly  uni- 
form, features  is  a huge  candelabrum,  not  the  cen- 
tral one  hung  from  the  middle  of  the  dome,  but 
one  which  encircles  it,  hung  by  brass  chains  from 
the  inner  edges  of  the  dome,  consisting  of  twelve 
(sometimes  only  ten)  straight  bands  of  open-worked 
brass,  of  excellent  design,  joined  with  hinges,  which 
are  set  in  double  eagles  (the  Byzantine  emblem), 
so  that  they  form  large  decagons  or  duodecagons, 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


527 


in  the  upper  edge  of  which  candles  are  set  all 
round.  The  design  and  work  of  these  candelabra 
appeared  to  me  old.  But  the  monks  affirmed  that 
they  were  now  made  in  Karyes.  This  I did  not 
believe,  and  in  any  case  my  suspicions  as  to  the 
antiquity  of  the  design  were  confirmed  by  one  I 
found  in  St.  Paul’s  (Agio  Pavlo),  which  bears  on  one 
of  the  double  eagles  an  inscription  that  the  Hegou- 
menos  had  restored  and  beautified  the  church  in 
1850.  But  this  eagle  joined  brass  bands  on  which 
was  a clear  German  inscription  stating  that  they 
were  made  in  Dresden  in  the  year  1660. 

By  far  the  finest  embroideries  in  silk  were  at  the 
rich  convent  of  Iviron,  and  indeed  the  main  church 
there  has  many  features  worthy  of  note.  The  floor 
is  of  elaborate  old  mosaic,  with  an  inscription  of 
George  the  Founder,  which  the  monks  refer  to  the 
tenth  century.  There  are  quaint  Rhodian  plaques, 
both  set  in  the  outer  wall,  and  also  laid  like  carpets, 
with  a border  of  fine  design  on  the  walls  of  the  tran- 
sept domes.  Beside  them  are  remarkable  old  Byz- 
antine capitals  designed  of  rams’  heads.  But  the 
great  piece  of  embroidery  is  a nodia  (or  apron  of  the 
Panagia).  The  ground  is  gold  and  green  silk,  on 
which  portraits  of  the  three  imperial  founders  are 
worked,  their  crowns  of  pearls,  their  dresses  of 
white  silk,  their  beards  of  brown  silk,  and  their  faces 
painted  most  delicately  in  colors  upon  silk.  Never 
in  my  life  have  I seen  any  embroidery  so  perfect  and 


528 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


so  precious.  There  were  also  occasional  old  crosses 
of  great  excellence,  but  to  describe  them  here  would 
be  tedious  and  useless,  unless  it  be  to  stimulate  the 
reader  to  go  out  and  see  them  for  himself ; nor  can  I 
recommend  this,  if  he  be  not  a well-introduced 
traveller,  ready  to  rough  it  and  to  meet  with  good 
temper  many  obstacles.  Travelling  in  Turkey, 
where  time  has  no  value,  and  where  restrictions 
upon  liberty  are  both  arbitrary  and  unjustly  applied, 
is  a matter  of  great  patience. 

What  shall  we  say  of  the  services  which  go  on 
most  of  the  day  and  night  in  these  monastic  churches, 
and  which  seemed  to  Messrs.  Riley  and  Owen  so 
interesting  and  so  in  harmony  with  the  Church  of 
England,  that  they  were  never  tired  of  regretting 
the  separation  of  Anglican  from  Greek  Chris- 
tianity, and  hoping  for  a union  or  reunion  between 
them  ? Mr.  Owen  went  so  far  as  to  celebrate  the 
Eucharist  after  the  Anglican  ritual  in  one  or  two 
of  these  churches  before  a crowd  of  monks,  who 
could  not  understand  his  words,  far  less  the  spirit 
with  which  our  Church  approaches  the  Holy 
Table. 

Yet  here  are  large  companies  of  men,  who  have 
given  up  the  world  to  live  on  hard  fare  and  strict  rule, 
spending  days  and  nights  in  the  service  of  God,  and 
resigning  the  ordinary  pleasures  and  distractions  of  the 
world.  Surely  here  there  must  be  some  strong  impulse, 
some  living  faith  which  sways  so  many  lives.  And  yet 


MEDIAEVAL  GREECE. 


529 


after  long  and  anxious  searching  for  some  spiritual  life, 
after  hours  spent  in  watching  the  prayers  and  aus- 
terities of  the  monks,  we  could  not  but  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  here  was  no  real  religion  ; that  it  was 
a mountain,  if  not  a valley,  u full  of  dry  bones,  and, 
behold,  they  were  very  dry.” 

It  is  of  course  very  hazardous  for  a stranger  to 
assert  a negative  ; there  may  be,  even  in  this  cold 
and  barren  ritual,  some  real  breath  of  spiritual  life, 
and  some  examples  of  men  who  serve  God  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  But  the  general  impression,  as  com- 
pared with  that  of  any  Western  religion — Roman 
Catholic,  Protestant,  Unitarian — is  not  favorable. 
Very  possibly  no  Western  man  will  ever  be  in  real 
sympathy  with  Orientals  in  spiritual  matters,  and 
Orientals  these  monks  are  in  the  strictest  sense. 
They  put  a stress  upon  orthodoxy  as  such,  which  to 
most  of  us  is  incomprehensible.  They  regard  idle- 
ness as  not  inconsistent  with  the  highest  and  holiest 
life.  They  consider  the  particular  kind  of  food 
which  they  eat  of  far  more  religious  importance 
than  to  avoid  excess  in  eating  and  drinking.  How 
can  we  judge  such  people  by  our  standards  ? To 
them  it  seems  to  be  religion  to  sit  in  a stall  all  night, 
perhaps  keeping  their  eyes  open,  but  in  a vague 
trance,  thinking  of  nothing,  and  not  following  one 
word  that  is  said,  while  they  ignore  teaching,  preach- 
ing, active  charity,  education  of  the  young,  as  not 
worthy  of  the  anchorite  and  the  recluse.  To  us  the 
34 


530 


RAMBLES  IN  GREECE. 


dypojrvta  which  we  attended  seemed  the  most  abso- 
lute misconception  of  the  service  of  God;  to  the 
monks  this  was  the  very  acme  of  piety. 

I have  spoken  unreservedly  of  these  things,  as  I 
learned  that  these  gentle  and  hospitable  souls  were 
impossible  to  please  in  one  respect — they  think  all 
criticism  of  their  life  most  rude  and  unjust.  They 
complained  to  me  bitterly  of  Mr.  Riley’s  book,  which 
they  had  learned  to  know  from  extracts  published  in 
Greek  papers,  and  yet  could  there  be  a more  gener- 
ous and  sympathetic  account  than  his  ? If,  then,  I 
must  in  any  case  (though  I deeply  regret  it)  incur 
their  resentment,  it  is  better  to  do  so  for  a candid 
judgment,  than  to  endeavor  to  escape  it  by  writing 
a mere  panegyric,  which  would  mislead  the  reader 
without  satisfying  the  monks.  Indeed,  in  one  point 
I could  not  even  satisfy  myself.  No  panegyric  could 
adequately  describe  their  courteous  and  unstinted 
hospitality. 


INDEX. 


About,  M.  E.,  24,  28. 

Acro-Corinthus,  395  sq. 

Acropolis  of  Athens,  first  view  of, 
34,  89  sq. ; bombarded  by  Vene- 
tians, 91 ; by  Turks,-  98  ; works 
on,  103 ; excavations  about, 
122,  123;  the  view  from,  152 
sq. 

Adler,  Dr.,  his  theory  concerning 
Mycense,  486. 

iEgina,  171,  428  sq. 

iEschines,  294,  324. 

iEschylus,  82,  112,  130. 

iEsculapius,  temple  of,  at  Athens, 
139. 

Agatharchus,  scene-painter,  128. 

Air,  lightness  and  clearness  of, 
255. 

Alfieri,  134. 

Alkamenes  107,  307,  312. 

Alpheus,  the,  302,  317,  342,  357. 

Alpine  character  of  Greece,  154 

Altis,  the,  at  Olympia,  302  sq. 

Anaxagoras,  138. 

Apollo,  temple  of,  at  Delphi,  283 
sq. ; at  Bassse,  264  sq. 

Arachova,  in  Phocis,  276  sq. ; in 
Kynuria,  440. 

Arcadia,  351  sq. ; the  ideal,  352  sq. ; 
description  of,  358,  382. 

Areopagus,  the,  139  sq. 

Argion,  457. 

Argos,  410  sq. 

Aristion,  stele  of,  68. 

Aristophanes,  408. 

Art,  Greek,  reserve  of,  79,  80  sq. ; 
113,  114 ; progress  of,  110-112. 

Aspendus,  theatre  of,  127. 

Assyrian  features  in  old  Greek 
art,  261. 

Astros,  436. 

Athena  Nike,  temple  of,  117. 

Athens,  faces  eastward,  3;  mu- 


seums of,  51,  55  sq.  ; ancient 
synoekismos  of,  171 ; Byzan- 
tine art  in,  496 ; dukes  of,  502. 
Athletics,  Greek,  321-324;  340- 
342. 

Attica,  152  sq. 

Barathrum,  the,  86. 

Bass®,  364  sq. 

Bath-room,  archaic,  at  Tiryns, 
487  sq. 

Beule,  M.,  quoted,  342,  358. 
Boating,  430. 

Boeotia,  229  sq. 

Book  of  Kells,  470,  524,  525. 
Bournouf,  M.  E.,  103,  419. 
Boxing,  334. 

Brauron,  153,  198. 

Brigands.  185,  194-197,  200,  360 
British  Museum,  99. 

Bruyeres,  Hugo  de,  505. 

Bugs,  254. 

Bull,  fresco  of,  489. 

Byron,  Lord,  29,  200,  205. 
Byzantine  architecture  and  art  in 
Greece,  494  sq.,  496,  507. 

Camels,  296. 

Canaris,  M.,  240. 

Canon  statue,  the,  63. 

Canova,  336. 

Caryatids  on  Erechtheum,  101, 
103. 

Cashel,  rock  of,  120. 

Castalian  fount,  289,  293. 
Castromenos,  M.,  343. 

Celia  frieze,  of  Parthenon,  109  sq. 
Cerigo,  12. 

Chseronea,  264  sq. 

Charos,  282. 

Cheese,  used  in  training,  326. 
Christ,  the  Passion  of,  81 ; in  Ar- 
cadia, 363. 


531 


532 


INDEX. 


Christian  antiquities  of  Athens, 
145. 

Cicada  (Tettix),  409. 

Cicero,  210,  320. 

Cithseron,  Mount,  219,  223,  229. 
Clarke,  Dr.,  460. 

Cleonse,  404. 

Cockerell,  Mr.,  368. 

Cocks  at  Sparta,  444. 

Coins,  391. 

Comedy,  Greek,  137 ; at  Cam- 
bridge, 137. 

Constantine,  the  Emperor,  291. 
Convent  Libraries,  522;  metals 
and  gems,  526;  embroideries, 
527 ; plagues,  527. 

Copias,  Lake,  248,  249. 

Corinth,  20,  392  sq. 

Corinthian  order,  36,  369,  434. 
Coronea,  250. 

Costume,  268,  279,  379,  437. 
Crete,  14,  15. 

Curzon,  M.,  509. 

Cyclades,  14,  166,  182. 

Cyclopean  walls,  472,  473. 

Daphne,  pass  of,  205  ; church  at, 
500. 

Delphi,  282  sq. 

Dionysus  (see  Theatre). 

Divri,  345. 

Dodwell,  quoted,  96, 228.  464,  471. 
Dogs,  32,  301 ; on  tombs,  261. 
Dorians,  442. 

Dorian  states  and  their  art,  420- 
423. 

Doric  order,  34,  37,  98,  304,  407, 
474. 

Dorpfeld,  Dr.,  314,  487,  490. 
Dramatic  competitions,  131 

Eagles,  232. 

Earthquakes,  277,  289,  305,  454. 
Easter,  361,  383. 

Elatea,  265. 

Eleusinia,  the,  210-214. 

Eleusis,  207  sq. 

Eleuthene,  223-229. 

Elgin,  Lord,  97,  98,  460. 

Elis,  299  sq. 

Entrances,  plan  of,  in  Greek 
palaces,  487-489. 

Epaminondas,  241,  242. 
Epicureans,  144,  145. 

Epidauros,  429,  432  sq. 


Erechtheum,  the,  101. 

Ergasteria,  mines  of,  167  sq. 

Ervmanthus,  Mount,  343;  river, 
345,  347,  358. 

Euripides,  his  art,  129,  130,  321. 

Eurotas,  the,  440. 

Events,  the,  at  Olympic  games, 
331-333. 

Expression  in  art,  114  sq. 

Fallmerayer,  415. 

Forts  at  Phyle,  215 ; Eleutherse, 
226;  Karytena,  373;  Staigue, 
Kerry,  a comparison,  407 ; 
Tiryns,  405  ; Mycenae,  457. 

Freeman,  Prof.,  on  restorations, 
93;  criticised,  93,  246 

French  tragedy,  134. 

Frieze  of  Parthenon,  105 ; at 
Tiryns,  489. 

Funeral  orations,  75. 

Games,  the  Olympic,  318  sq. 

Glendalough,  chapels  iu,  495. 

Gods,  the  unknown,  143. 

Gold  cups,  polishing  of,  485. 

Greece,  faces  eastward,  2 ; routes 
to,  2,  18-20 ; first  aspect  of,  4 ; 
depopulation  of,  11,  232;  per- 
manence of  inhabitants,  24, 
414-419. 

Greek  art,  polychromatic,  40-46; 
notions  of  death,  77-79  (cf. 
Art) ; travel,  494. 

Greeks,  character  of,  21,  146  sq. 
(note  ) 360  ; courage  of,  201. 

Guide-books  for  Greece,  53. 

Gregorovius,  Mr.,  493. 

Hadrian’s  temple  of  Zeus  at 
Athens,  34-37. 

Hagios  Petros,  438. 

Handbooks  for  Greece,  53,  54. 

Helicon,  248. 

Helmet  of  Hiero,  317. 

Heraeon,  the,  at  Olympia,  314, 371. 

Heraldic  ornaments,  482. 

Hermes  of  Vatican,  63 ; archaic  at 
Athens,  68;  of  Praxiteles,  313. 

Herodotus,  423. 

Hesiod,  408. 

Homer,  77,  284,  403,  409. 

Honey  of  Hyinettus,  156 ; of 
Laurium,  176. 

Hopf,  415. 


INDEX. 


533 


Hydra,  the  island  of,  183,  425 
427. 

Ictinus,  364,  370. 

Iliad,  the,  284,  318,  334,  411,  466. 
Inns,  361. 

Ionic  order,  116. 

Ireland,  resembles  Greece  in  va- 
rious natural  features,  and  in 
its  art,  5,  17, 121,  407,  464,  468- 
470,  478. 

Italy,  faces  westward,  1. 

Itea,  297. 

Ithome,  Mount,  449  sq. 

Iviron,  Monastery,  527. 

Jealousy,  Greek,  245. 

Julian,  the  Emperor,  292. 

Julius  Caesar,  390. 

Kalamata,  449,  505 
Karytena,  372,  505. 

Katakolo,  299,  381. 

Kephissus,  the,  near  Athens,  157 ; 
in  Thriasian  plain,  219;  at 
Orchomenus,  257. 

Kirrba,  295. 

Kladeos,  the,  302  sq. ; 343. 

Koron,  Gulf  of,  6. 

Krissa,  294. 

Kynaetha,  354. 

Kynuria,  435. 

Ladon,  the,  358,  359. 

Lala,  344. 

Lambros,  Mr.,  524. 

Langada  Pass,  446. 

Laurium,  169-172;  its  mining 
companies,  173-179. 

Lechaeum,  390-392. 

Lechouri,  village  of,  347. 
Legends,  282,  411,  478. 

Lion  of  Marathon,  199  ; of  Chae- 
ronea,  268  sq. ; of  the  Arsenal, 
Venice,  270 ; of  Lucerne,  271. 
Lionardo  da  Vinci,  419. 
Lion-gate  at  Mycenae,  471. 
Livadia,  251  sq. 

Locrian  inscriptions,  260. 
Lycabettus,  189. 

Lysicrates,  monument  of,  36,  47, 
150. 

M^enalus,  Mount,  381,  387. 
Maina,  7. 


Malea  promontory,  13 ; hermit  of, 
13. 

Marathon,  153,  198,  199,  203,  204. 
Marble,  Greek,  40 ; Pentelican, 
190,  304. 

Mars’  Orchestra,  243. 

Mediaeval  Greece,  492  sq. 
Medicine  in  Greece,  362. 

Medusa,  419. 

Megalopolis,  374. 

Melos,  15 ; Venus  of,  16. 

Messene,  walls  and  gates  of,  452. 
Messenia,  449  sq. 

Meteora  Monastery,  528. 
Michaelis,  103  sq. 

Mistra,  445,  503. 

Monasteries,  Scripou  (Orchome- 
nus), 260 ; Vourkano,  450. 
Morea  ( see  Peloponnesus). 

Mount  Athos,  509  sq. 

Munychia,  160. 

Murray,  Mr.  A.  S.,  61,  270,  313, 
476. 

Museums,  subdivision  of,  50-54, 
151 ; of  Athens,  55  sq.,  74 ; of 
Acropolis,  118 ; of  Olympia, 
306. 

Music,  280-282 ; in  Arcadia,  353, 
372. 

Mycenae,  456  sq. 

Myron,  423. 

Mysteries,  the  Eleusinian,  210  sq. 

Naples,  museum  of,  44. 

Natural  beauty,  exhilarating  ef- 
fect of,  255. 

Nauplia,  423,  429. 

New  Grange,  464,  468. 

Nicias,  a slave-owner,  177,  178. 
Nike  of  Paeonius.  306,  316* 

Oaks,  344,  366. 

(Enoe,  224. 

Old  Cathedral,  Athens,  495. 
Olive-trees,  in  Attica,  158,  197. 
Olonos,  Mount,  343,  347,  348. 
Olympia,  303  sq. 

Olympiads,  the,  318  sq. 

Oracle,  Delphic,  285  sq. 
Orchestra,  the,  140. 

Orchomenus,  257  sq. 
Ornamentation  of  temples,  105, 
106. 

Ostrich  egg,  at  Mycenae,  478. 
Owen,  Mr.,  528. 


534 


INDEX. 


P^onius,  307,  316. 

Paestum,  temple  of,  394. 

Pan,  353,  387. 

Panagia  Phaeneromene,  Monas- 
tery of,  497,  507. 

Panathenaic  procession,  109. 
Pank ration,  the,  329,  337. 
Papalexopoulos,  Dr.,  387,  410. 
Parnassus,  Mount,  274,  281. 
Parnes,  Mount,  154. 

Parthenon,  the  older  burnt,  66; 
account  of,  90  sq. ; sketched  by 
Carrey,  104 ; decorations  of, 
105,  369. 

Paul,  S.,  at  Athens,  141  sq.,  389. 
Pausanius,  King,  292. 

Pausanias  quoted,  263,  284,  291, 
307.  308,  311,  312,  328,  329,  368. 
377,  408,  464,  465. 

Pediments,  of  Parthenon,  105 
sq. ; of  temple  at  Olympia,  308 
sq. 

Peiraeus  (Piraeus),  31,  32, 159-161, 
206. 

Peloponnesus,  the,  6. 

Penrose,  Mr.,  102. 

Pentathlon,  320,  331. 

Pentelicus,  Mount,  quarries  of, 
190-193. 

Perrot,  M.  G.,  quoted,  185-189. 
Perseids  and  Pelopids,  486. 
Petrac.hus,  the  fort  of  Chaeronea, 
264. 

Phaedriades,  the,  289. 

Phalerum,  161. 

Phayllus,  333. 

Phidias,  107,  115,  303. 

Phigalia,  364. 

Phocians,  the,  291. 

Phocis,  274  sq. 

Phoenicians,  in  Greece,  12,  170. 
Phyle,  pass  of,  215. 

Pickering,  Mr.,  326. 

Pindar,  242,  294,  316, 

Pirene,  fountain  of,  397. 

Plataea,  223,  231. 

Plato,  138. 

Plutarch,  quoted,  213,  265. 
Politics,  modern  Greek,  236-240. 
Polyandrion,  at  Chaeronea.  272. 
Polybius,  346,  353. 

Polychroiny,  Greek,  39  sq. 
Pompeii,  statues  from,  70. 
Praxiteles,  112 ; his  Hermes,  313 ; 
his  Fauu,  353. 


Propylaea  at  Athens,  100 ; at 
Eleusis,  208,  209. 

Psophis,  346. 

Psyttalea,  31. 

Pullen,  Mr.,  493. 

Pylaea,  the,  294,  295. 

Pyramids,  465. 

Pyrgos,  300. 

Pyrrhic  dance,  280. 

Pythian  games,  285,  310,  311. 

Racine,  his  estimate  of  tragedy, 
132-134. 

Rain,  346. 

Renan,  quoted,  141,  246  sq. 

Rhamnus,  185. 

Riley,  Mr.,  519,' 522,  526,  528. 

Roads,  Greek,  190,  220,  256. 

Routes,  through  Greece,  296,  343, 
349,  380,  396,  424. 

Salamis,  207,  209. 

Salonica  churches,  497. 

Salzburg,  compared  to  Athens, 
152. 

Sannazaro,  Jacopo,  355. 

Sayce,  Prof.,  416. 

Schliemann,  Dr.  H.,  his  Mycen- 
aen  treasure,  151,  ; at  Nauplia, 
435 ; excavations  at  Orchome- 
nus,  258;  Mycenae,  458  sq.,  464, 
473  sq. 

Schultz,  Mr.,  493. 

Sepulchral  monuments,  county 
Meath,  compared,  468. 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  267. 

Sculpture,  in  relation  to  other 
arts,  316,  321. 

Shelley,  86. 

Shepherd  children,  448. 

Sicily,  63,  404. 

Smith,  Adam,  his  theory  of  sym- 
pathy, 80. 

Socrates,  138. 

Sophocles,  130. 

Sorrow,  its  expression  in  art, 
83. 

Sparta,  9,  10  sq. 

Spartans,  320,  325,  441. 

Squicr,  Mr.,  60. 

Stadium,  at  Delphi,  293. 

Stage,  the  Greek,  128. 

Statues,  various  types  of.  65 ; 
votive,  315;  archaic,  65-70,  71, 
72 ; at  Argos,  418  ; archaistic,  70. 


INDEX. 


535 


Stele,  of  Aristion,  68 ; of  Alxenor, 
261. 

Stoics,  at  Athens,  144. 

Strabo,  389,  396,  408. 

Suuium,  temple  of,  166,  179-181. 

Swinburne,  Mr.,  bis  Greek  plays, 
135. 

Tactics,  old  Greek,  203. 

Tainaron,  promontory  of,  9. 

Tanagra,  figurines  of,  59-62. 

Taygetus,  443. 

Tegea,  385. 

Temple  of  the  Winds  (Athens), 
47,  150. 

Tennyson,  his  In  Memoriam  criti- 
cised, 84. 

Tettix,  the  ( see  Cicada). 

Theatre  of  Dionysus  at  Athens, 
122  sq. ; size  of,  125  ; at  Argos, 
413. 

Thebans,  character  of,  241-243. 

Thebes,  233-237,  241. 

Theocritus,  quoted,  192,  336,  353, 
402. 

Theodosius,  292. 

Therasia  (Thera),  prehistoric  dis- 
coveries at,  16. 

Theseus,  temple  of,  37,  38,  46, 
47. 

Thespiae,  242. 

Thucydides,  quoted,  207,  259. 

Thyreatis,  440. 

Tiryns,  405  sq. ; 487  sq. ; destruc- 
tion of,  484,  490,  491. 

Tomb  of  S.  Luke,  235. 

Tombs,  defaced,  47,  48;  the  At- 
tic, 74  sq. ; at  Mycenae,  474  sq. 


Treasury  of  Minyae,258,  464;  of 
Atreus,  457  sq. 

Trikoupi,  M.,  237,  240,  244. 

Tripod  of  Delphi,  292. 

Tripolitza,  278,  381,  384. 

Tripotamo,  345,  346. 

Trophonius,  oracle  of,  251. 

Try  pi,  446. 

Turks,  in  Greece,  3,  10, 26,  55,  281 
sq. 

Umpires,  at  Olympia,  337,  338. 

Vegetation,  in  Arcadia,  366, 
367;  Argolis,  401,  429,  458; 
Kynuria,  436;  Laconia,  444, 
447 ; Messenia,  453,  454. 

Venetian  tower  at  Athens,  93. 

Venetians,  bombard  the  Acropo- 
lis, 91 ; destroy  sculptures,  100. 

Venus,  various  types  of,  113, 114. 

Vergil,  quoted,  335,  354. 

Villehardouins,  the,  445,  503. 

Viollet-le-duc,  M.,  393. 

Vourkano,  monastery  of,  449,  508. 

Walls,  159,  162 ; Peiraeic,  259. 

Wedding  scene,  279. 

Wood,  use  of,  in  archaic  build- 
ings, 491. 

Xenophon,  cited,  201. 

Zea,  harbor,  160,  161. 

Zeus,  temple  of,  at  Athens,  46; 
temple  and  statue  of,  at  Olym- 
pia, 303  sq. ; bronze  figures  of 
(Zaves),  338. 


